A New Beginning
by sarahalliwell
Summary: Set 20 years after BD. It's a new start for the Cullens, especially Nessie. Will she be able to control herself? Canon, but NOT a JacobxNessie story. Not for Jacob lovers. Rated T for both language and theme. As of 10/10/11, changes have been made.
1. Prologue

_Hey guys! It's my first chapter fic that I put here, I hope it's good. _

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, Stephenie Meyer does. _

_It's not beta-ed, I tried my best not to miss any spelling errors._

_**Edit: As of today (Oct 10th, 2011) I will be posting the new and improved chapters for this story.**_

_**The main plot is still the same, but the dialogs have been improved and some changes were made. **_

_**I hope you all enjoy this version of the story. **_

_**(The original author's notes will be in italic still. Bold ones are edits)  
**_

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Life as a hybrid had never been easy.

I was a twenty-year-old woman stuck forever in an eighteen-year-old body that I had grown into in barely seven years.

My hair was kept long because it grew out faster than normal; it was slightly curly – a trait I had gotten from my grandpa and mother, and had a strange, bronze tint to it – courtesy of my father.

I liked to think I was tall, but I barely reached 5'6. My face was almost a replica of my mother; heart shaped, pale, permanent blush on my cheeks. But my eyes were what made me like her.

Dad always says they were the _exact same shade_ as my mother's had been, along with same shape.

My mother, Bella, was eighteen when she was changed, so it kind of made us the same age. My father, Edward, had been seventeen; he was changed way back in nineteen-eighteen, which made him over a hundred years old.

I loved my parents more than anything in the world. I didn't care much that we all looked the same age; it could be weird at times, but for the most part I didn't mind.

My momma and my daddy were the most precious people in my life.

We lived with the whole family. My aunts, Alice and Rosalie, were great to hang out with, and my uncles, Jasper and Emmett, were awesome partners in crime.

My grandparents, Carlisle and Esme, were the most caring people I'd ever known. Even though we were a big, loud family, I knew I would be lost without them.

We used to live in Forks, Washington. I loved it there; it was very peaceful, and I had my grandpa Charlie just a few minutes away. I loved him, and we always had a good time together.

But things happened and it was time to move on to a new city, to start over. So we relocated to Vancouver, Canada.

Far away enough to maintain our cover, but still near enough so I could visit my grandpa every once in a while.

As a family of vampires – and a hybrid, thank you very much – we couldn't stay long in one place. We were all 'vegetarians', which meant we drank from animals instead of humans, so we tried to move to places where the wildlife was abundant.

Sometimes I felt like a freak among my family. Apart from my very different name – Renesmee – I was the only one who slept, ate human food, had a heartbeat and could get hurt.

Ever since I was in my mother's womb, I could tell I was different. I had killed her when I was born, quite literally, but she never let me feel guilty about it.

My momma had fought for me from the beginning, and I would be forever grateful for that.

I hurt her a lot; since I was half-vampire, my body was too strong for her frail form. I tried not to move too much, but it was so hard.

I grew up really fast, and they soon discovered I had all traits a full vampire carried; the strength, speed and acute senses, although they were slightly dulled due to my human side.

I used to have a friend in Forks called Jacob, but I couldn't talk about him even if I wanted to. He had made my life hell, which helped in our decision to move.

My mom and I were able to keep what happened a secret from the family, but I knew sooner or later it would come out.

Since Mom was a mind shield, she could protect the secret pretty well. I developed my own weak shield as I grew up, protecting my mind as well; Grandpa had said it was a latent power.

Tomorrow would be our first day of high school. Well, first day for me.

We hadn't really settled down somewhere in a while, preferring to travel the world before committing ourselves to years of routine and school obligation.

I'd never been to school, so the experience should be fun, even though for now I was a nervous wreck.

Everyone in my family had been to high school at least once, and they had all assured me I wouldn't be so excited a few weeks from now.

It would be boring, since they had all studied it all over and over; I had been home schooled, so I knew a lot, but I wasn't excited about learning. I wanted to be around different people, to experience new things.

I just hoped I'd enjoy myself...


	2. Chapter 1

_Hey, thanks for the reviews... _

_This chapter is sort of a filler, the story will pick up after that, promise!_

_Btw, yeah I'm team Edward, all the way, and I don't like Jacob... but I'll even give him a nice ending! He won't be a jerk for long..._

_**Edit: I'm still Team Edward all the way, and Jacob will be a jerk in this story until the end. So ignore my comment above lol.**_

_**(If you've read my profile before, you know I despise Jacob, so please keep that in mind when reading this story)**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.  
**_

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Chapter 1

RPOV

I woke up extremely excited. It was my first day of class in Hills High School.

I quickly got up and took a shower, washing my hair thoroughly. By the time I was done, my mother had made her way up to my room, and was waiting for me on my bed.

"Morning, Mom," I greeted her with a smile, towel drying my hair.

I had put on a bra and panties before stepping out of the bathroom; guess I just wasn't shy about being half dressed in front of my mother.

"Good Morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, I slept through the whole night with no nightmares. I think the excitement made me sleep better."

My mother knew I had regular nightmares, and it always worried her I would not get enough sleep because of it.

"I'm glad, baby. Now, go put some clothes on, and I'll help with your hair before your Aunt Alice has the chance."

I was heading into the closet as I saw said aunt come into my room, glaring at my mother.

"Bella, I promised I'd try to be more subdued about things like that, please don't tempt me." She said.

She was a bit pissed off at my mother, but mom didn't step down. She hated being handled like a Barbie doll and I got that from her.

Aunt Alice loved to play dress-up with us, but lately we've been trying to slow her down. Mom was getting pretty annoyed, I guess.

"Al, please, you know my stance on these things. Just please let me have some bonding time with my daughter for today." Mom gently let her down.

"Yes, Aunt Alice, please. I like it when my mom does my hair." I said.

"Don't gang up on me, I'm already leaving." She was already half way down the stairs when she finished the sentence.

I looked at my mom with a puzzled expression; Aunt Alice never gives in that easily. Mom just shrugged, clearly relieved she hadn't put up a fight.

I went back into my closet, and five minutes later, was fully dressed in dark blue skinny jeans, along with a purple long sleeved V-neck top and matching ballerina flats. I was in the mood for purple.

I sat down on my bed and my mom started brushing my hair, carefully running the brush through my knots. It was I who broke our comfortable silence.

"Mom, just spit it out. I know there's more to it than just bonding time."

I knew my mom pretty well; I could see she was struggling with her words.

"It's nothing, sweetie, I promise. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Seeing as you didn't have any nightmares at all is a good sign. I was too distracted to hear anything..."

I put my hands to my ears, and interrupted her.

"Mom, please, I don't need to hear about that."

Even though I was close to my mother, no one should be subjected to 'your parents have sex' kind of talk. It was just wrong.

I lived in denial and preferred to believe I was an immaculate conception.

"Sorry." She said guiltily.

I just smiled and said it was nothing. By then she had finished with my hair, and I was pleased with it.

It was curly and put up in a half ponytail, with my bangs straightened and clipped to the left. Very girlish-y.

We were about to continue our conversation, when we heard a knock. I called the person to come in, knowing it was my dad; I had his scent memorized.

He walked to the bed, and gave me a kiss on my forehead, greeting me good morning. He pecked my mom on the lips, and looked at me.

"Everything okay in here? You were taking longer than usual." He pointed.

My dad knew I had nightmares, but he didn't know how often I had them, or about what they were. He also worried way too much.

"Yes, daddy, we're fine. Just having a little bonding time, right momma?"

"Yes, nothing to worry about." She said with a smile.

She got a lot better at lying since she no longer blushed, which was what usually gave her away.

My dad looked at us with a smile.

"We're having a family meeting downstairs, they're just waiting for you." He left the room, expecting us to follow him.

I grabbed my jacket and school bag, reached for my mom's hand and walked out.

Everyone was sitting on the dining room table, which was only used for our meetings, already dressed and ready to go. Grandpa Carlisle was sitting at the head of the table, a pile of manila envelopes in front of him.

Mom and I sat beside my dad on the left side and grandpa started speaking.

"I have all your new documents and transcripts with me. Alice has already figured out which one will belong to each 'family'. Alice, if you please."

"Thank you." Aunt Alice replied. Grandpa handed out one envelop to each of us, and we carefully opened them. Inside were a passport, driver's license, I.D for the ones 'underage' and school transcripts.

"Jasper and Rose will be the Hale twins, as usual. They're Esme's niece and nephew, and came to live with her when they were ten.

"Edward and I will be brother and sister, and Emmett will be our cousin. His mom and ours were Carlisle sisters, and they died in a car accident when we were little, and we had no fathers. We all had Cullen as our last name, because our moms weren't married.

"Bella and Nessie, you'll be the Swan twins. Your parents were best friends with Carlisle and Esme in college, and they named them as your guardians, should anything happen. They both died in a fire, and you came to live with us." It all sort of made sense.

When I started looking like a teenager, when I was about five, my face changed a bit, making me look even more like my mom, except for the hair and eyes. We could pass off as twins, no problem.

Since Dad had already heard it all from Alice's mind, he went into the kitchen as she was explaining everything and made me some breakfast.

He was actually an okay cook, and I ate the omelet he presented me earnestly. Seeing as I had a human side, I needed food as well as blood to survive.

I was a bit picky, but not enough to make it annoying. As I drank the last of my milk, everyone got up. It was time to go.


	3. Chapter 2

_Hey guys, here's a new chapter. Thank you for the reviews!  
_

_I'm brazilian, and our high schools here are totally different from up north. So, I think I have the whole high school thing figured out, but if there's anything wrong, please help me out._

_**Edit: A few changes made here. **_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 2

BPOV

First days of school always seemed hard; even if you had been through this already. People staring, whispers that we could unfortunately hear very well, and new classes.

Or not, I guess, because what was the point of high school English when you had a degree in American Literature?

My only worry was Renesmee. It was her very first day of school ever, and even though I hate to admit it, she was still a bit sheltered and naïve when it came to people. She was so innocent, and I was afraid she'd get hurt trying to fit in.

We all got out of our cars simultaneously. The girls had ridden in Rosalie's new BMW while the guys rode in Edward's new black Mercedes.

He had got ridden of the Volvo a few years back, deciding he didn't like the new ones that came out before choosing the Mercedes.

We all reached out for our husbands' hands, and made our way to the office. Nessie was holding my other hand so hard, I was afraid she'd break it. Not that she could, though.

"May, relax hun, or you'll end up hurting yourself." I told her.

Even though she was half-vampire, her bones were very much breakable, as we had unfortunately found out the hard way.

She looked at me with scared eyes, and whispered back.

"I'm scared, Momma. What if people don't like me?"

As I said she had, unfortunately, lived a sheltered life.

It wasn't her fault, nor ours, but she was way too different to interact with people her age while she was growing up. Now she was too scared she wouldn't find her way through school.

"Don't worry, Ness. You just need to be yourself, and people will love you. Just remember, we are all different, and people will talk and all that. But I'm sure you'll find yourself a very good friend in here." I tried to reassure her.

"You think so?"

"Oh, I know so. Mothers know best, right?" I winked.

She smiled and relaxed her grip on my hand. "Even though from now on I'm only your twin." I grinned and she laughed out loud at that.

Edward reached a hand behind my back and put a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You know you'll be just fine in here, baby. If anything, there's always your big, crazy family to help you out."

"Yeah, and we can always beat them up for you, if you want." Emmett decided to try to cheer her up.

Impressively, it worked. She was laughing out loud, seemingly way more relaxed.

We finally reached the office and Alice went to the secretary.

"Hi there, we're the Cullen's, Hale's and Swan's." She introduced us. "We're here to pick up our schedules."

Carlisle and Esme had enrolled us ahead of time, and we just needed to hand in our _old school_ transcripts and pick up our schedules.

The secretary looked at us in awe. I guess together we made a beautiful bunch. The vampire traits made us extremely alluring to humans, and the poor woman was no exception.

"Who are the sophomores?" The woman, Ms. Olivia Hilton according to her name plate, stuttered out.

Alice just replied, "Bella and Ness Swan, and I."

"Okay, here they are. And for the juniors, here you go," She said handing Edward the other schedules.

We handed back the documents we had and left the office, heading straight to our lockers.

They were ordered alphabetically, making mine right next to Nessie's. We put our things away, grabbed our books and starting heading to our first class, AP English.

It was a fairly small school, still bigger than Forks', and we had most of our classes together.

Alice caught up to us in no time, and we went into the classroom looking for seats. We sat at the last row, and waited for the teacher, Mrs. Steveson, to start the lecture.

It was boring, even though I loved the subject. She only went over the class' syllabus, her rules and then gave us a list of books to read. I'd already read them all more than once.

After English, we had History, which would always be boring, no matter what. Then it was time for Gym.

I hadn't really mastered the whole don't-use-your-full-strength thing yet, and I was afraid I'd hurt someone. Like I used to when I was a human.

But it wasn't as hard as it looked, we were playing volleyball in pairs, and I was paired up with Ness playing against Alice and a girl named Sara.

She looked like a cool girl, and we actually enjoyed ourselves.

By fourth period, we were already the talk of the school. We didn't interact with other students as we tried not to bring too much attention to ourselves, but that proved to be impossible.

The rumors were already flying and people gawked at us openly in the hallways, which made me extremely uncomfortable.

It was times like this that I was glad I didn't have Edward's mind reading ability; he would be suffering twice as much.

Before I knew it, it was lunch time. Alice and I walked to the cafeteria, with Nessie just behind us.

Alice was planning our weekend and was trying to convince me to join her in what she called 'sister bonding time', meaning shopping.

She was giving me the whole puppy eye and don't you love me crap, and I was agreeing to it before I could think properly. She was so excited though, and it made me excited as well.

She and I would be going all the way to California, as she said it would be cloudy over there and 'their fashion is to die for'.

We entered the full cafeteria and looked around, trying to find someone from our family. We spotted Emmett and Rose sitting on a table all the way to the back. So we grabbed ourselves some food and walked to them.

By the time we were seated, we were joined by both Jasper and Edward. They had the weirdest looks on their faces, and it would be comical if I weren't so worried.

"Edward, what's wrong?" I whispered so only he and our family could hear. He took the seat next to me and sighed.

"Thoughts and feeling. It's like that every time we start over, but now I have two people to worry about, and it makes me want to wring their necks for thinking about my baby girl." He vented.

"Oh, my love, I'm so sorry. You know better than anyone what teenage boys think about. Don't let them get to you." I tried to soothe him.

"How about I shield you for the time being, would that be alright?" I couldn't stand by and let my poor husband suffer through something that could be completely avoidable

"Yes, please, love." He was practically begging now, and I couldn't take it anymore. I could tell it worked as soon as I heard his sigh of relief. "Thank you, Bella. You're a life saver."

I just pecked his lips in reply. I would do anything to keep my Edward from feeling pain.

Our little moment wasn't noticed by anyone else in the family. Rose and Emmett were too busy shoving their tongues down the other's throat.

Alice and Jasper were talking so low, I couldn't really make out the words.

And Renesmee was staring at this boy, contemplative.

RPOV

We headed towards the table where Emmett and Rose sat. I took the seat opposite them, looking at the doors.

After my dad and Jasper joined us, they all started talking with each other, leaving me to my thoughts.

That was when I saw him. He was walking with a bunch of kids surrounding him, and it looked like he was trying to be rid of them.

He was very tall, about 6'1, with short spiked brown hair and the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. They were sort of greenish, but looked gray, and it looked like you could see into his soul through them.

He had a nice body, not very tan and kind of athletic; he was probably a basketball player. And popular.

And I could only watch from a distance, because who would want to go out with a freak like me?

My eyes got wide as I finished my thoughts. What was this? I had barely been in school for three hours and I was already thinking about some guy's beautiful eyes.

Was this normal? I always shied away from any men, but here I was, thinking about one.

But I couldn't find it in myself to stop staring. It was a good thing that we sat far away from everyone, so he wouldn't catch me looking at him.

He laughed about something, and wow, he had the most beautiful smile. I tore my eyes from him, and looked around. My parents were looking at me.

"Hey Bella, is something wrong?" I asked, looking everywhere but their eyes.

"No, I was just trying to figure out who got you to space out like you had just done." She smiled, letting me know I wasn't in trouble.

"No one M- Bella. I was just looking around, trying to figure this place out." I smiled back, hoping she wouldn't pry too much.

"Don't lie, Ness. You know we can tell when you try to do that." My dad said.

It was a good thing I had learned how to protect my mind with my weak shield, or else he would find out just how great I was at hiding things.

"I promise I was just looking, Edward. That guy looked uncomfortable surrounded by so many people, I was just trying to figure him out." I told as honestly as I could.

"Okay then. Just try to stay out of trouble." Edward warned. But what trouble could I possibly get into around here?

"Yeah, sure, daddy" I whispered back to him.

The bell rang, thankfully, right after that, and I got up to get to my next class. It was the only one I had without anyone in my family. Calculus.

For some weird reason, I actually enjoyed Math.

I got into the classroom, looking around for a good seat when I spotted him. The cafeteria guy.

I walked through rows of desks and took the seat next to him. He looked at me, smiled a little and went back to his drawing.

I started an internal debate. If I talked to him, would my family be mad? I didn't know if we were allowed to interact with humans so much.

I had no idea if just talking to someone would make them figure out we weren't normal. Making up my mind, I turned to him and said "Hello".

He looked up from his doodling, looking around before his eyes landed on me, his face held a shocked expression.

"Hi," he answered back, almost stuttering.

"My name is Renesmee," I said, holding out my hand for him. He shook it.

"Nicholas. But call me Nick." Nicholas, nice name. I got my hand back before he could notice how warm it really was.

"Nice to meet you, Nick." I would have continued, but the teacher was in class, asking for order. Before I knew it, it was time to go home.

I sat in the car silently, my mom next to me.

She kept staring, probably trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I know she'd want to get it out of me later somehow, but for now, all I had in my mind was Nicholas.


	4. Chapter 3

**_Edit: A few changes made here._**

**_Hope you guys like it. _**

**_Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all._**

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Chapter 3

RPOV

The week passed by in a blur. One day I was almost breaking my mom's hand because I was way too nervous, next it was already Friday and I was in the parking lot talking to my new friend, Sara.

That same girl from Gym. Turned out she has a few classes with me, including Calculus.

She sat next to me in English, helping me out because I couldn't stand Alice's and Mom's excitement. I mean, _Bella _was actually excited about the trip. A shopping trip, with no one else but Alice.

I'd be going crazy by now, and yet she was genuinely happy about it. They were leaving right after lunch, because apparently they wanted to make it to L.A. before nighttime.

What would they do there? I kept daydreaming in class until I felt Sara poke me.

"Ness, are you okay?" She looked concerned. Maybe she had been calling out for me for a while and I didn't hear her. So I gave her a reassuring smile and replied.

"Yeah, I'm great! Just thinking, sorry." Which just confirmed I had totally zoned out.

"About what?"

"Oh, ahm, it's just that most of my family will be out for the weekend. Alice and Bella are going to Seattle, shopping trip. And the boys are going to drive around to try to find a nice camping site.

"Our family is very outdoorsy and we haven't found good places around here yet. So it'll be just me, Rose and Esme at home."

I thought saying they were going on a weekend trip to Seattle was more believable than L.A; since they didn't need to stop for anything but gas, they could make it there and back quite quickly.

But I didn't want to scare my only friend away with too much info all at once. She wouldn't believe me anyways.

"That sounds cool. Hey, do you want to hang out sometime this weekend?"

"Really?" I replied a bit too eagerly.

I mean, I had never had a human friend before, to do normal stuff, or to invite me to hang out.

"Yes, of course." She smiled, looking eager as well.

"So, I have plans for Sunday with Rose, but I'm free on Saturday. I just need to ask my mom for permission, I'll give her a call during lunch, how about that?"

After saying that, I looked beside me to my _real_ mom, and she just smiled and nodded. I don't think my smile could get bigger.

"Great! We'll have so much fun, we can go watch a movie or something." Sara kept on listing the fun stuff we'd be doing, but I was in another world. I had a friend. A human friend that talked to me, that showed no fear of being close to me or my family.

Sara was great, actually. She was shy, and quiet, but once you got to know her, she just couldn't shut up. She was tiny, maybe 5'2 with long black hair and hazel eyes. According to her, her eyes turned green when she cried.

I had also been thinking about Nick quite a lot. After that awkward introduction on Monday, he never tried to talk to me again. I didn't force him, I knew my family and I could look intimidating.

But the problem was that I couldn't stop thinking about him. I had never thought about a guy like that. I just thought I'd been too broken to really crush on someone.

I never thought I'd like to date someone. And a human at that. But he didn't like me, and I'd have to live with that.

Maybe I could ask my dad about him. He could read Nick's mind after all.

The hours passed so fast, I barely noticed everything until it was already lunch time. I was a bit down, but I guess that was understandable. My mom and Alice were leaving soon.

I'd miss my mom quite a lot. Most people – well, vampires – didn't understand our relationship. She had literally given up her life for me. She had fought for me, never giving up and I would be forever grateful for that.

She was the first person I had ever loved, from inside her womb. And now she and I were 'the same age', physically speaking at least and had very alike minds. She and I were attached to the hip, and I had no shame to admit it.

"Ness, you've been very quiet today, what's up?" That was Rose. She was like the big sister, fiercely protective of everyone in the family, but especially me.

"I'm fine, Rosie. Just thinking I guess. Oh, by the way, I needed to ask. You don't have anything planned for Saturday, right? Just Sunday?"

"No, not really. Why?" She asked.

"My new friend, Sara, asked if I could go hang out with her tomorrow. Mom already said yes, but I wanted to make sure you didn't need me for anything." I smiled at her.

"Oh, no, honey. You go ahead to have some fun. We have plenty to do on Sunday." Aunt Rose had really changed over the years.

I knew she had disliked my mother when Mom was human, and for her to suggest I do something with a human was a big step for her.

I was eating a slice of pizza, waiting for the rest of the family to show up. For now it was only Rose and Emmett. They weren't eating, obviously, but they kept staring at me and it was granting on my nerves. Most of the family did that when I was eating.

"What?" I spat out after swallowing my pizza.

They looked at me and laughed. They did that all the time as well. "It's just amusing to see you get all pissed off. You look so much like Bella." Emmett laughed. "Does it taste okay at least?"

"Yeah, it tastes nice. Too greasy for my liking but it'll do." I laughed a bit.

I did need the nutrition – not that pizza was nutritious at all – and since we bought food props, I could as well eat them so they wouldn't go to waste.

I usually ate junk food, though. It wasn't like I had to worry about calories or putting on weight.

"Just leave her alone, Emmett. You do this all the time, it gets annoying." Dad said as he approached our table.

Everyone got settled and started back their conversation about the guys' 'camping' trip; they knew a few places we could hunt, but they wanted to find new places where the decrease in numbers of animals wouldn't be noticed.

"Should we look for any specific kind?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know, I don't think so. This is just so we can hunt quickly. If we really want big game, we know where to find them." Dad replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"You know, I don't care what you get, as long as you get something! You guys have put this off for a while, and your eyes are really black, it could be noticeable if they keep changing colors all the time." I guess Rose was getting annoyed as well.

"I agree with Rose." Bella and I said at the same time.

We both giggled a little; it was kind of freaky when we did that. But we were the only ones who found it amusing; the rest of the family all rolled their eyes at us.

"So, Bella, what exactly are you going to do there?" I wanted to change the subject, the whole hunting thing was making me thirsty.

"I have no idea." She said, quite exasperated. "Alice won't tell me a thing, and she's blocking Edward, so… She's one mean sister," she whispered. Alice glared playfully back at her.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know that, but you still love me."

"Course I do Al, you're my favorite pixie sister."

"But, Be-lla! I'm your only pixie sister!"

They always did that, but somehow it was still amusing to watch.

"So, there you go, you're my favorite by default." Bella said, winking at Alice.

They both laughed, making us wonder if we missed an inside joke.

The bell rang, warning us we had five minutes to get to class. Alice and Bella were hugging everyone, lingering a bit with their husbands.

"I love you." I heard my mom tell my dad.

"Have a safe trip and I love you too." He quickly kissed her, since PDA was really frowned upon here in this school.

Mom came to me and gave me a hug.

"Be safe, baby, and I'll miss you. I love you."

I said I'd miss her too, but not to worry because I was perfectly safe in here. She kissed my forehead and started to walk out. Alice gave me a hug and I whispered to her.

"Keep my momma safe, okay?" I knew Alice would take it seriously.

They both waved at us and left for the parking lot. The rest of the family started to head to their classes, but I still needed to talk to my dad.

"Edward, can I ask you something?" He stood behind while everyone went their way, and looked at me, not answering.

"Could you do me a favor? There's this guy in my Calc class, and I-I I tried to talk to him, and h-he hasn't talked to me since." I stuttered out, not really making any sense.

I took a deep breath and started again.

"Daddy, can you try to hear his thoughts? I, I don't think he likes me that much, and I wanted to know why. Please?" He looked at me suspiciously, probably wondering if I liked the guy or not.

Apparently, my face didn't give anything away, cause he just answered with a simple 'sure', and left.

Calculus was a bit weird again, he didn't even look at me when I entered the room. I took my seat beside Sara, and she immediately started talking about her plans for the tomorrow.

"So, can you go?" I just nodded, "Awesome, we're going to have so much fun. Could we meet up somewhere? I'd have to take the bus."

I'd forgotten we were pretending to be fifteen; our birthdays were set in January. We had to change them all so we wouldn't look suspicious.

I guess it was easier for my family before the internet came along. Now with one click they could search our names online.

"I could ask Esme to drive us. Should I go pick you up?" I asked.

"Could I go to your house? Just tell me where you live and I'll take the bus." She looked around a bit scared, so I agreed.

It would also be truth time. Everyone in school knew our family had money, but they didn't know just how much. Would she still be my friend? Would it scare her away? I was hoping not.

The last class of the day went by with no incidents, and I was walking to the parking lot when Sara stopped me.

"Ness, you forgot to give me your address." I quickly explained it to her, letting her know I had seen a bus stop near our driveway, and waved goodbye.

I wanted to talk to my dad right away. He just looked at me and shook his head. Uh-oh, not a good thing.

"He's a bit intimidated by you, Ness. I guess, we are quite scary; we spent the whole day not talking to anyone so when you did, he didn't know what to think.

"I don't think he intended to behave like he did. If you really want to, you should try to talk to him again, baby."

"Oh, I want to. Thank you so much, daddy." I hugged him and got into the car. It was going to be an interesting weekend.

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_Please do let me know what you think =D_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Edit: The story is set in the future, but I used movies and bands that I like. Just being creative lol**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 4

RPOV

It was Saturday afternoon. Sara had called to let me know she was leaving her house and would be here in half an hour.

She never mentioned anything about her mother, and I didn't want to ask and make her sad. What if something had happened to her, or something, and they I bring it up and make her cry?

I didn't want to do that, so I would keep my mouth shut.

Esme was so happy that I had made a friend and was going to be out all day doing normal, human stuff.

She cleaned up the house from top to bottom, even though it was already spotless, so we could give her a nice first impression.

I should have mentioned she would've been impressed even without the cleaning.

I could hear someone walk up our driveway, but actually waited until the bell rang before opening the door. It was not usual for people to know there was someone at the door before they knocked or something.

Rose and Esme were sitting with me in our living room. They were both in one of the couches, while I sat on the other.

A couple of armchairs completed the room, along with a huge flat screen hanging on the wall. Esme went with colors this time around, and one of the walls in the room was painted deep maroon.

I jumped a little when the doorbell finally rang, quickly standing up and opening the door to my friend.

"Sara!" I exclaimed, smiling at her.

She was looking at the house with her mouth wide open in awe.

"Hey, Ness." She stuttered out. "Wow, this place is huge." She whispered to herself, but I could hear it just fine.

I invited her in, showing the way to the living room.

"This is Esme, our adoptive mother, and you know Rose." I introduced them.

"Sara, so nice to meet you, dear." Esme smiled, putting Sara into a gentle embrace.

"You, too, Mrs. Cullen." Sara replied shyly.

"I'll show you around before we leave." I suggested so she would feel more comfortable around here.

So I showed her the game room, which contained another flat screen and many different consoles my family had accumulated over the years.

They still had an original Atari, as well as the Nintendo and the Super-Nintendo. The latter was my favorite. It was also stocked with board games of all kinds, and a billiard table.

Across the staircase was the music room. It was thoroughly sound proofed, and we could just very faintly hear it if someone was playing here, not counting when the door was open; then we could hear it just fine. It was the only area on the first floor that was completely closed off to give people privacy.

I knew how to play the piano, thanks to my daddy, and Uncle Jasper taught me how to play the guitar. We often played together.

I led her up the stairs, pointing out which room was which, ending with mine on the third floor. (I shared the floor with my parents.)

"Wow," was all she could say as I opened the door. My room was fairly big. It had purple walls, three light ones and one dark, with white furniture.

My laptop was lying on my desk, along with a modern sound system. I love music, and Dad made sure I had the best system to listen to it. My closet was quite big, courtesy of Alice, and full of clothes I rarely wore.

My bed was queen sized, really comfy with white and purple bedding and some purple cushions. I had a bedside table that was stacked with some books that I'd been reading. On the wall beside my desk was a bookshelf, full with my favorites.

I grabbed my purse that was lying on top of my chair and turned to Sara.

"Do you like it?" I asked uncertainly.

"Like? I love it! It's so cool, you have the nicest room ever!"

I laughed at her reaction, "Thanks, I think. I like it, it's very peaceful."

"It sure is." I turned off the lights, and we were back downstairs.

Rose walked over to us and gave me a kiss on my forehead.

"Have a good time, sweetie."

"Thanks, Rose. I will!"

Esme got into the car and we followed suit.

"Thanks for taking us, Mrs. Cullen." Sara said from the backseat.

"It's my pleasure, and please call me Esme. Mrs. Cullen makes me feel old." She laughed at her own joke, and I smiled at her amused.

Grandma could be old, but she definitely didn't look it.

She left us at the mall, asking me to call when we wanted to be picked up.

We walked around for a while before deciding to go watch a movie. We bought our tickets, choosing a comedy.

The movie was hilarious, we laughed from beginning to end. There was this one time I even had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

As the movie ended, we headed towards the food court, both of us hungry.

"So, Ness, what do you wanna get?" _Blood_ was my first thought. Okay, not a good idea.

I'd never been to a mall's food court since Alice didn't believe in feeding me while shopping, so I was a bit undecided.

"I guess I'll settle for a hamburger."

"Me, too." She replied. We made our way to a Burger King, got our combos, and sat down to eat. We finished a few minutes later; the burger had tasted better than I expected.

We were in a comfortable silence for a while, till Sara asked.

"Nessie, can you tell me more about yourself?"

I only hesitated for half a second.

"Yeah, sure, but only if you tell me more about yourself." I compromised with a laugh.

"Okay," she agreed. "What's your favorite color?"

"Purple," I replied in a _duh_ tone. We laughed again, "what about yours?"

"It depends on my mood I guess, but it's been blue for a while. Favorite song?"

"Right now, it's _The Only Exception _by _Paramore_. What about yours?"

"My favorites vary a lot. I've been listening to a lot of Pink, so I guess that's it."

We kept going with our twenty questions sort of thing, until it got a bit more serious.

"What is it like, living with such a big family? What are they like?"

"Well, it can be great and horrible at the same time. I mean, there's rarely any peace and quiet around. We all have _very_ different personalities and tastes, and there's always someone meddling with your life, so it can be annoying.

"Sometimes all you want is a bit of alone time, you know? But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

"Esme and Carlisle are the best, they let us be ourselves, and they don't really act like our parents, more like our friends.

"Emmett looks scary, but he's really sweet, if not a bit protective. Rose seems a bit shallow, but she's very loyal when it comes to family, she fits perfectly as the big sister, she's always there to help and guide us.

"Jasper's really quiet, but so smart and funny. We have the best conversations. Alice's always happy and hyper. She _loves _shopping, fashion and all that, and sometimes she can drive us insane. But she's very caring and an amazing listener."

I took a breath, trying to gauge Sara's reaction, but she was listening attentively to everything I had to say.

"You left Edward and Bella out." She pointed out.

"Right. Well, Edward's really cool. He's really over protective, mostly over Bella and me, but he really loves us all. He taught me how to play the piano when we were younger; he loves music and cars.

"And Bella, well, she's my twin. She and I have very similar minds. She's my rock, my everything. She's always there when you need it, and she helped me through some dark times. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for her."

I guess my eyes showed my adoration for my parents, because Sara was quiet for a few seconds.

"Wow, Ness. You really do love them, don't you?" She almost whispered.

"Yes, I do." I told her, no hesitation. "Enough about my family, what about yours?"

"Well," she sighed. "My dad's cool, I guess, but he's never around. Because of his work he's always traveling, sometimes leaving for weeks, so I barely see him. I enjoy it when he is home, though.

"I have a little brother called Ben, but he's only three so he's not really aware of things. My mother is... I don't know. We don't really get along. I can't trust her. She doesn't really care for me." She shrugged as if it were normal.

"What about your friends?" I asked her, trying to figure her out.

"Well, I never really had any good friends before, Ness. I'm not a sociable person, I usually keep to myself. You're the first real friend I've ever had."

I was so shocked. She was such a sweet girl, I couldn't believe she didn't have any friends, so I silently promised her I would be the best friend she could ever have.

"Okay, you know you can trust me. We're gonna be the best of friends, I promise you."

She smiled at me, hugely, and I swear I could see a hint of a tear on her eye.

"Thank you, Renesmee. I really hope so."

We wandered around the mall after that, just looking and not really buying anything. I must say, it was a whole new experience, to actually walk around without rushing from store to store.

We were walking down the corridor, when Sara stopped suddenly. She was staring at a very pretty dress, almost drooling over it.

I could see it wasn't really in her price range, but still dragged her inside the store. I asked the saleswoman for the dress in Sara's size and almost forced her to try it on.

It looked perfect on her. Really lovely. It was a dark blue V-neck, just above knee length. She looked gorgeous. I made her try a few more things on, browsing for myself as well.

While she was changing, I grabbed the dress and the clothes I had chosen for me and paid quickly so she wouldn't see.

That would be my first move as her best friend. I knew money couldn't buy friendships, but if I could afford to buy my friend a dress, why not do it?

I called Esme shortly after, as we had decided to hang out at my place for a while.

She arrived ten minutes later, and we both started talking about everything we did, the movie and shopping. Esme was genuinely happy that I had found a friend.

We got home and went straight to my room. I told Sara I had a surprise for her, and asked her to close her eyes. As she complied I reached into the bag and took out the dress. It was gift wrapped.

"My first gift as your best friend. I hope you like it, and before you say anything, I never had a friend to buy things to either, so please accept it." I told her before handing her the present.

She opened it carefully, and looked shocked when she saw it.

"Ness, how? What? When?" I just waited. "Awww, Nessie, I love it. Thank you!" She gave me a huge hug, and I smiled back at her.

"You looked so gorgeous, I just had to buy it. It'll be perfect for the dance next month." I told her. "If we don't have dates till there, we'll go with each other, okay?"

"It's a date." She said. We both laughed.

We kept talking, listening to some music and getting to know each other. We found out we both had the same weird taste for music, and we both loved collecting weird stuff.

I collected post cards. She collected key rings.

She had a hard time expressing herself most of the time, but again, so did I. Much too soon, she had to leave. I offered to give her a ride, but she declined.

So we said our goodbyes, and she left, but not before asking me if she could leave her new dress here. Of course I agreed to it; I didn't know her reasons, but I had my suspicions.

Not two seconds after the door closed, Rose was pushing me towards the living room couch.

"How was it? Did you have fun?" I smiled, and told her everything.

She seemed really happy about it all. I touched her face, _showing_ her my thoughts. I tried not to use this sort of communication lest I slip up, but since we were home I gave myself a reprieve.

"I really am! Sometimes it's good to have someone _normal_ to talk to, and to do normal stuff. Don't you think?" I was still touching her face, so I just thought 'I couldn't agree more.'

She laughed.

It was still early, so I went to the music room to play a bit. It had been a while since I practiced. Rose followed me and we played some duets, talking softly while we played. It was so rare to have quiet moments in this house, so we were really making the most out of it.

I was getting tired, though, and a big yawn escaped my mouth.

"Okay, young lady, it's time for you to go to bed." Rose said and I rolled my eyes. Sometimes she was worse than my mom.

"Yeah, I'm going. Goodnight Auntie Rose. I'll see you tomorrow." I pecked her cheek and passed through the living room, giving Esme a hug and bidding her goodnight before going to my room.

I got ready for bed, and in no time, I was asleep.

It wasn't peaceful, though. I was restless. After a whole week sleeping through the night with no interruptions, the nightmares came back full force.

I kept tossing and turning, wanting to wake up, but finding it impossible.

Flashbacks going through my mind. Jacob. Anger. Hurt. Jacob's eyes, filled with rage. Mom looking hurt. Pain. 'No, Jacob, don't.' I mumbled. 'It hurts, stop.' His faced showed up in my mind again, and I woke up.

Screaming. I was trashing, punching the air, and I kept screaming until two pairs of strong hands stopped me.

"Nessie, what's wrong?" Both Rose and Esme were there.

They looked so worried and scared. I was breathing too fast, as if I had gone without air for a while. I hid my face on Esme's chest while she hugged me and tried to comfort me.

"Shhh, child, it's okay. You're safe now, it's okay. Take a deep breath." I did as I was told. "That's it, calm down." She kept saying in a low, reassuring voice.

"I want my momma." Was all I said, in a voice lower than a whisper.

"Ness, I'm sure she's busy now, just calm down and we'll call her tomorrow." Rose tried to reassure me, but I was having none of it.

"I need to talk to my mom, NOW!" I was never one for a temper, but I just need to hear my mother's voice. She and Dad were the only ones who could keep the nightmares away.

Rose was out and back in less than a second, holding my cell phone in her hand. I quickly hit speed dial number one and waited.

"_Renesmee?"_ My mom answered after the first ring.

"Momma," I said in a small voice, "they're back. Please, help me."


	6. Chapter 5

_Hey everyone. Thanks for the reviews and alerts. 500 hits, it's more than I ever thought! Thanks. _

_Sorry I didn't put it up earlier as promised, but who knew graduation invitations took so long to deliver? I'm going crazy with them!  
_

_**Edit: It's been two years since I've graduated lol. Which means this story is old! Still, I hope you like this new chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.  
**_

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Chapter 5

BPOV

We got to L.A. late Friday night. Alice had planned out the whole Saturday, so we just checked into our hotel and watched movies. As the clock struck seven, we started getting ready. By eight, we were ready to go.

Since Alice could see how the weather was going to be like, she planned ahead so we could hit Rodeo Drive before the sun came out. She said that at two in the afternoon the rain would stop, so we would have to go to a shopping mall by then.

It was my first time here, so Alice showed me around a little. It was strange to think this was where most celebrities lived. As we reached the street, Alice pulled me along into the stores she _had to_ visit. We would leave each one with at least three bags. Each.

I was actually having a good time. It wasn't so much the shopping, which I still hated, but being with Alice. She was my best friend, and ever since Renesmee was born we didn't have much time to spend together.

I missed it.

"I missed you." I spoke my thoughts out loud. She gave me an odd look, definitely not seeing beforehand what I had to say.

"Bella, you see me every day." She pointed out.

"Yes, I know that. I meant, we haven't had alone time for a while. I missed hanging out with my favorite sister." I said with a smile.

Rose and I were in better terms, but there was still a bit of resentment.

"That was the point of this trip, silly." She smiled back. "We needed some bonding time." She laughed as I agreed with her.

"I know, that was why I came without a fight."

She glared at me.

"And here I thought you wanted to come for the shopping."

"Shopping can be fun, Al." I assured her. "All you have to do is let people give their opinion, and just let them choose for themselves. I don't know about the rest of the family, but I do get annoyed when you choose things for me." I told her sincerely.

"We all know you can see if we'll look good in something or if we'll like it, but it kind of takes our chance to pick things ourselves, you know?"

She nodded.

We reached the car then, and quickly got in. It was almost two and we didn't want to risk the sun getting to us.

"I'm sorry." She said once she started the car. "I just get so eager when I know you'll like something, or Rose or anyone, that I just _have_ to buy it. But you're right, it does take your chance to choose away. I'll try not to do that anymore." She smiled.

Thankfully she wasn't sad or mad about what I said, but I just had to tell her. It was just her way, trying to please everyone, but sometimes things didn't work out as well as she would have liked.

We drove around for a while until we reached a mall. She went into an underground parking so we wouldn't get hit by sunlight.

She parked her car quickly and got out too fast for a human, barely waiting for me to step out before giving me a huge hug.

"I thank whoever it was that put you in my life. You balance me out quite fine, don't you think?"

"Yes, we're so different, yet so alike. It's creepy." We were still hugging, both laughing.

"I love you, B. I'm so glad to be your sister."

I guess we would both be crying if we could right now.

"Love you, too, Al."

After our little moment, we walked around the mall, arms linked, talking nonsense and laughing. Mostly acting like teenagers.

We went from store to store, trying things on and buying whatever we wanted. I was really enjoying it.

We were walking towards a store when Alice stopped. Her eyes were unfocused, which was a sign she was having a vision. It was over in half a second, too fast for anyone to notice it.

"Ness is having a good time with her friend. I just saw them both talking." I smiled at her. Alice could see Renesmee sometimes.

It was still a bit blurry, but not as bad as it was before. We all theorized it was because she got used to Ness and also because there were no werewolves to blind her anymore.

"Thank you for letting me know." She just smiled at me.

We were half way through the mall when, once again, a vision hit Alice. It was quite fast, but she came out of it looking puzzled.

"What was it, Al?"

"It was weird. I didn't see anything, just that we were all very gloomy. Our moods were weird, I don't know, it was so strange."

"Okay, so something is going to happen that's going to get us in a foul mood."

"Apparently." She said, and suddenly, her face brightened. "I have an idea, come on."

She took my hand and dragged me to this cool store that had customized shirts. She ordered tank tops for us girls, and t-shirts for the boys. The saleswoman said it'd take about two hours, so we resumed our shopping activities.

We went around, looking for nice stuff to buy. It was almost September, meaning mine and Renesmee's _real_ birthdays and I wanted to get her something special.

While Alice went back to the store to get our shirts, I went looking for the best present. I looked around for quite a while until I found it. It was perfect. I quickly went inside and bought it, and went to find Alice.

It was almost closing time by now, we spent almost the whole day walking around and shopping. I had to admit I had actually enjoyed myself.

It wasn't a usual Alice-shopping-trip; I guess she really tried to make it pleasant for me. She really was the best. I grinned like an idiot and hugged her. She laughed out loud, confused.

"Thank you." I said. She was still confused. "I'm guessing you made quite an effort to try not buy the whole mall, instead you actually tried to be a _normal_ person. I'm thankful. This was the best day ever, sis." She was beaming.

"I did try, and I have to admit, it was quite fun. We had time to talk and laugh, it was great." She pecked me on the cheek, "Thanks, B."

We walked back to the car, driving to our hotel. We didn't bother to unload our bags, since we would leave in a few hours.

I just grabbed one bag and took it with me, while she did the same. We both laughed, realizing we had, again, thought along the same lines.

We got into our room, and sat on the large bed. She handed me something gift wrapped, with a card saying 'to the best sister in the world', making me smile even more.

I carefully opened it, revealing a very beautiful dress. It was light blue, knee length with a modest cleavage. The fabric was shiny, so there were no beads or anything like that. It was perfect.

"For the dance, next month. We'll all be going, and you needed a dress."

"Thanks, A. It's perfect!" I said, still amazed. "I got you something too." I said, giving her a gift wrapped box.

She probably saw me deciding to buy it, but it was still nice to try to surprise her.

She opened it, and gasped. "Bella, wow. It's gorgeous!"

I smiled hugely at her. She hugged me and asked me to put it on her. As soon as I was done, she looked into the mirror. I could tell she loved it.

It was a silver bracelet, and the clasp was shaped as two intertwined hearts, one gold and one silver. It had a small diamond encrusted where both hearts were joined.

"So you'll always know, you're forever in my heart." I told her. I guess she'd cry if she could.

We sat back on the bed, and kept talking. We were having such a great time, I forgot about everything else.

I heard my cell phone ring a while later, and wondered who would be calling. Edward was somewhere with no reception, and my daughter should be asleep already.

As I checked the caller ID, my brows furrowed in concern. I answered before the second ring.

"Renesmee?" I said.

"_Momma," _she said, barely in a whisper, _"they're back. Please, help me."_

I was confused, and scared. Who was back? What was going on?"

"May, what's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?" I fired question after question, not understanding what was going on.

"_Momma," _she was crying. _"I had the most horrible nightmare. It was horrible, Jacob was there, and, and…" _She couldn't finish, she was sobbing to hard so I tried to calm her down.

"May, listen to me. Take a deep breath, sweetie. That's it. Now, is there anyone with you?"

"_Yeah, grandma and Auntie Rose." _

Good, at least she wasn't alone.

"Do you want me to go home?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"_No, mom, it's okay. I just needed to hear your voice. I'll be okay."_

"Are you sure, baby? We can leave now if you want."

"_I'm sure, mom. Thanks." _Her voice was a little louder.

"Okay, try to go back to sleep. You can ask Rose to stay with you if you're scared, and if you can't sleep, just call me, okay?" I guess Rose heard me, because I heard her talk to me in the background.

"_I'll stay with her, Bella, don't worry." _

"_Okay, mom, I'll try to sleep. I just wanted to hear you, I guess. I miss you."_ She said in a small voice. _"Sorry I scared you."_ She added.

"Don't apologize, my love. I miss you, too, May." I knew she loved it when I called her that. "I love you."

"_Love you too, Momma."_ She hung up. I turned to Alice, saying,

"I guess I know where our bad mood will come from."

Alice looked worried.

"Is she okay, Bell? She sounded scared. I didn't see this." She murmured the last part, shaking her head.

I sighed. "Yes, she's fine. Just another nightmare. You know, Jacob."

The family didn't like to talk about him. No one knew exactly what happened, except for Ness and I, but they knew that she had gotten hurt and it was Jacob's fault.

There was no need to explain anything else.

"It's not her first one, is it?" She inquired.

I sighed again.

"No, it's been like that since that day. Edward knows she has them from time to time, but you know no one else but me knows what happened.

"And if she still has nightmares over it, maybe she's not ready to talk about things. Just please don't mention it to Edward. He'll freak out." I pleaded.

"Of course, Bella. Don't worry, I won't tell."

I rested my head on her shoulder.

"Thanks. I just wish she'd get better soon. It hurts so much to see her like that." Alice wrapped her arm around my shoulder, comforting me.

"We'll help her, Bells. She's not alone." She got up, and suddenly looked at me. "We'll leave in a few hours. We can go back through Forks, if you'd like to visit Charlie for a while."

I gave her a small smile, "That would be nice, thank you, Alice."

Charlie was rounding his sixties now, but he was still as strong as ever. I missed my dad; it'd be nice to see him again.

We checked out a few hours later, and started making our way back. We were in Forks in no time, thanks to Alice's driving.

I was used to it by now, understanding their need for speed now that I was one of them.

I could hear Charlie talking to someone, probably Sue, while we made our way to the doorstep. I had picked out the werewolf scent, but I was used to it by now.

Seth and Leah were always around, so the stench was just always there.

I knocked twice and waited. It was no longer my home, and no matter how many times Charlie insisted I could just walk in, I was afraid I'd walk into something compromising or something like that.

I liked to play it safe.

The door was unlocked and I looked up, ready to greet my dad, when they opened it fully.

No, that couldn't be. I hissed.

"Jacob."


	7. Chapter 6

_Hello readers. I wanted to get a new chapter done before the weekend, so here it is. I won't post again till monday probably, I'm going on a road trip to see Alanis's concert! It'll be fun lol_

_I was going to split this chapter in two, but seeing as I won't update it till later, I decided to post it all. It has 2 pov's, hopefully it's not confusing. The chapter mentions a mature theme, but nothing that'll change the T rate =D Can't mention what it is, or it'll spoil the chap. _

_**Edit: Also been two years since the Alanis concert... The chapter still has two POV's.  
**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 6

BPOV

"Bella? What are you doing here?" Jacob asked me.

"I'm here to see my _father_, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Leah is here, so I am here. Charlie's in the living room." He said and moved out of the way to let me in.

He was too close to me, and I had to take a deep, unnecessary breath to calm myself down as I was sure I could rip his head off in a second.

I couldn't believe he was at my dad's house, after everything he'd done to my family.

I had also noticed he still smelled bad and didn't seem to have aged; it meant he was still a werewolf, just like Leah and Seth.

I made my way into my father's tiny living room, Alice following right after. He was watching TV and shouting at it as if the players would somehow hear him, but he stopped suddenly when he spotted me.

His face broke into a big smile and he got up as quickly as he could.

"Bella! Alice!" He screamed.

"Hey dad," we both replied. Alice insisted on calling him that. "How are you doing?" I said while he hugged me.

"Better now that you're here." I smiled slightly; our relationship had gotten better through time.

"Great to see you too, dad. I missed you." My dad had noticed a long time ago that we hadn't changed at all since he had last seen us.

He never mentioned it, though, and Edward said he was scared it would drive us away.

"Missed you, too, girls." He said, while hugging Alice.

The coldness of our skin didn't bother him anymore.

I noticed that we were alone in the living room. I could hear Jacob go up the stairs. He would hear everything we talked about, but I didn't care. I just didn't want to see his face.

"Where's everyone else?" My dad asked.

"They're all home. Alice and I were on a small trip to Seattle, and decided to drop by before going back."

"Good, good," he said. "How's my granddaughter doing?" he asked, his eyes sparkling at the mention of Renesmee.

"She's okay. She's still hurting a little, emotionally, but she's doing better. By the way, why is the _mutt_ here, dad? I thought you didn't like him either."

"I don't, Bella. But Sue does, and you know Billy passed away a few years ago, so Sue's taking care of Jacob. I... he doesn't really talk to me, though, he just spends his time here with Leah."

Dad had married Sue a year after I was turned, which made Leah and Seth my step-siblings. Sue had a big heart, and couldn't let one of her best friend's son go without care . The wolves weren't immortal, but they didn't age as quickly as normal humans, so they still looked like they were in their twenties.

We hung around the house for some time, talking about everything and anything, but without mentioning which city we were living at the moment for fear Jacob would overhear.

As we were set to leave, the mutt decided to grace us with his unwelcome presence.

"Bella, could we talk for a minute?"

My first reaction was to say no. I had nothing else to say to my once best friend.

There was no way I could forgive him for what he did to my baby girl, no matter how much he pleaded or begged for forgiveness.

But both Alice and Dad encouraged me to talk to him, so I said yes and headed towards the backyard.

I stayed near enough so they could see me, but far enough that my father would not be able to hear our conversation.

I raised and eyebrow at him, crossing my arms in front of me. "Talk." I said in the coldest voice I could muster.

"What happened to you, Bella? I used to be your best friend, and you barely look at me now."

I looked at him in disbelief. Was he really asking me that?

"What happened to me?" I said in an eerily calm voice. "What happened was that you broke into my home, got into my daughter's room and tried to force yourself on her. You attempted to rape her. You beat her so badly, she was almost hospitalized.

"She's half-human. It took weeks for her to fully recover physically. She has nightmares, panic attacks, she can't trust people, she's scared of everything.

"You broke her soul, Jacob. You destroyed whatever innocence there was left in my daughter and you have the audacity to ask what happened to me?" My voice was strained, and I was fighting myself so I wouldn't yell.

"She'll never be the same, thanks to you. And now what, you want me to be happy to see you at my _father's_ house? You disgust me." I spat out.

"I'm s…" He started to say, but I cut him off.

"If you say you're sorry, I'm ripping your head off. Believe me, I've been restraining myself from doing so ever since I stepped into the house." I warned him.

"I don't know what happened to me that day, Bella, I swear." He pleaded, but I was having none of that.

He had claimed to love her unconditionally, but he showed his true self that night.

"It doesn't matter anymore, Jacob. You'll never touch her again, you won't be near her again, you won't speak to her ever again. I don't care if you're hurt, if you fucking imprinted on her. The imprint was broken the moment you hurt her.

"You were my best friend, Jacob, and I trusted you. And now I can't even look at you anymore. Any ounce of feeling I might have had for you dissipated once you hurt my baby girl.

"You should be glad I can control my temper, or else we wouldn't even be having this conversation." He knew as well as I did that my venom could kill him in a matter of minutes.

"Don't ever contact us again."

With that, I turned my back to him and walked back to the house.

Alice was waiting for me by the back door, arms open knowing I would need comforting. I ran to her quickly hugged her tight as she reassured me I had done well.

Charlie asked what we talked about, but I just told him I made sure Jacob knew not to mess with us, and my dad left it at that. He never pried.

We all walked out, and Charlie waved to us as we got into the car.

"Love you." He said in a normal voice.

Both of us smiled back at him, and I threw him a kiss for good measure. He winked back as he leaned on the threshold, crossing his arms as we drove away.

I was able to hold everything in for about thirty seconds before I started screaming out in frustration. I knew I wouldn't scare Alice since she had most likely seen it coming, so I let it all out.

I wish I could shed tears once more, as it would be a nice way to vent.

Alice grabbed my hand and squeezed it, showing me her silent support. She waited until I was calm once again before she started talking.

"You did great, B. Really. You needed to do that, so you could get your closure. I couldn't see how it would turn out, but I knew you would be fine.

"I admire you control, especially in front of Charlie. I'm really proud of you, sis." She smiled at me, and I mumbled a shy 'thank you'.

She wasn't done, though.

"Now, why the hell didn't you tell anyone that that _dog_ tried to rape my niece? Bella, this is huge, you should have told us!" She screeched, not once taking her eyes off the road.

"We thought he had hit her once or twice. Why did you keep this a secret?"

Alice seemed hurt; maybe she thought I didn't trust her enough to confide in her about this, but the truth was so far from it.

"Alice, please. Renesmee pleaded for me not to tell anyone, not until she was ready. We both knew the whole family would become even more protective of her, and she wouldn't be able to live her life.

"She still has nightmares, Al. She can't even have one freaking night of peace because of what he did, but she's trying. She's just not fully ready to have everyone else know yet.

"She just wanted to have a normal high school experience, without anyone hovering over her. She's an adult, Alice, and she wants to act like one."

"I see your point, Bella. But it's been almost ten years, isn't it time for everyone else to know? Starting with Edward.

"Bella, he was so worried when he got your call that night. It was pure luck Carlisle had decided to stay behind, since I couldn't see because of the mutt.

"I didn't even think much of it since he was always near, even after she snubbed him. He would stay as a wolf a few miles away, but still it interfered in my visions." She shrugged. "I hated it."

I sighed.

"I think you're right, Alice. I'll talk to her tonight, and see when to tell Edward. Could you please just watch your thoughts around him for the time being? I want her to tell him on her own time."

"Yes, of course, Bells. I'll do my best, but please just do it soon."

I nodded, agreeing with her. "Thanks, Alice."

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We talked about the dance next month, and the dress Alice had seen would look perfect on her.

Even with her speed, we only arrived home at around nine, still beating the guys back.

I was barely out of the car when someone sprinted down the front steps and wrapped her arms around me in a vise grip.

"Renesmee." I sighed, glad to see her.

"Mom," she exclaimed while hugging me. "I missed you."

x-x-x-x

RPOV

Aunt Rose stayed with me the whole night. I was able to sleep peacefully with no more nightmares. I knew Rose had watched my dreams through my ability, and she was able to keep me safe.

She woke me up at nine, telling me to get ready for the day. She wanted to spend the day with me since we barely had time for ourselves in this madhouse.

We started with cooking my breakfast and after I was done, we made cookies. We would watch movies later on, and I wanted snacks.

There was a food fight involved, where the flour won over both of us, but it was fun. Most of the kitchen was covered in the white powder, but with our speed we were able to clean it all pretty quickly.

We had used stars and leaves cutters, so the cookies looked pretty nice. I had one to see if they turned out okay, and they tasted amazing, so I kept them on the kitchen island for easy access.

It was almost lunchtime when we were done, and Rose decided to go out to eat. We ended up in a small, quaint diner where I ordered a burger and fries along with a chocolate milkshake.

When we got back, she asked me to pick a couple of movies so we could watch during the afternoon. She microwaved some popcorn and brought it along with the cookies just as I popped in the DVD.

We watched _Pride and Prejudice_ first. It was one of my favorites, and it reminded me of my parents. I loved the soundtrack as well.

As it ended, Rosalie put on a musical. Grandma Esme joined us, and the three of us sat there singing along to _Chicago_. It was also one of my favorites.

We were quite in the mood after that, so we started watching _Across the Universe_. I love the Beatles, and the movie was just awesome.

Really, combining Beatles songs with a movie like that was amazing.

I was so into it, I didn't hear the car approaching until it was already parked. Once I realized who it was, I ran out of the house at full speed, right into my mother's arms.

"Mom," I said. "I missed you." I hugged her tightly.

"I missed you, too, May."

I loved when she called me that. No one was allowed to, which made it her special name for me.

I smiled at her and let her go. "We have to talk." She said, looking serious.

I just nodded and went inside, after greeting Alice with a hug and a kiss.

They unloaded the car, and went to put the stuff away in their bedrooms while I waited in the living room. My mom was back in no time, and motioned for me to follow her.

"Let's go outside for a walk, baby." I nodded and off we went.

She was quiet for a while. I knew she wanted to talk about the nightmare, I wanted to too, but I don't think she knew where to start.

"I saw Jacob today." She said in an angry voice.

She didn't look at me while saying that, but I didn't need to be Jasper to feel the anger emanating through her body. It was obvious.

I was shocked, though, that she'd tell me that.

"W-what?" I replied, my voice barely a whisper.

"We went to visit Charlie on our way back, and he was there."

"Oh." Was all I could say. I felt her arm around my shoulder as she pulled me closer while we walked.

We found some sort of meadow, and sat down. She leaned against a tree, and I leaned against her legs.

"It took all my will to not rip his head off. I was so mad that he was at my father's house, after everything. I spent the whole day ignoring him, but as we were leaving, he asked me to go talk to him."

"Did you?" I asked.

"I didn't want to, but yes, I did. He got on my nerves though, and I almost lost my cool. He tried to say he was sorry, but I just wouldn't hear it. What he did was inexcusable, and I made sure to let him know." She said, laughing a little.

"He seemed to think I would just forgive him like I had done so many times before. But not this time. He messed up with my daughter."

"Wow, Mom. I knew you were brave, but that was great." I said, turning around to look at her.

She wasn't done, apparently.

"May, we need to tell the family. I know I said we'd wait till you were ready, but it's been almost ten years, and he's not coming back, ever. I won't allow him to be near you.

"Alice found out, since she was watching out for me while I 'talked' to Jacob. Baby, we have to tell your dad, and soon."

I sighed.

"I know, Momma, I know." I still didn't know how we had kept it all a secret for so long.

"I was thinking about it, and I guess it's time. But, let me tell dad first, and then we'll tell the rest of the family, okay?"

"Sure, baby." She said and kissed my forehead.

I went and sat beside her, and she wrapped her arms around me, snuggling me close. We stayed like this for a while, not talking, just being there.

"I brought you something from L.A." My mom said suddenly. "But it's for your birthday, so you won't get it till September." I pouted, and she laughed.

"I picked it out, and I loved it. I hope you will too."

"I'm sure I will." I told her. And it was true. She knew me better than anyone, she'd know what I liked.

She sighed, and started getting up. It was getting late, and I needed to talk to Daddy before going to bed.

We ran back to the house, and saw everyone was sitting in the living room, seemingly waiting for us.

Dad went to Mom and gave her a chaste, but passionate kiss. I turned around, and I heard a faint 'I missed you' while I walked to the nearest sofa and sat down.

They stopped kissing, but kept staring at each other, embraced.

After a while, I noticed Mom tense up and guessed that was the time.

"Bella, love, what's wrong?" My dad asked.

"Renesmee needs to talk to you." She said, and looked at me. "Alone." My eyes went big.

"Momma, please," I told her. "Can't you be there?"

She shook her head.

"No, I think you both should talk alone, and you know it too. It's better this way." I sighed, hating that she was right.

"Okay." I sighed. "Daddy, can we go for a walk?"

"Sure," he said. I was afraid of how he'd react.

"He won't overreact, baby," Mom said. "I just let him know what it was all about, and he's going to listen to you, okay? He promised."

"Thanks, Mom." I said in a whisper.

And then we were off.


	8. Chapter 7

_Hello... sorry it took so long to post, I was recovering from my trip to see Alanis' concert. BTW, she was awesome! _

_Took me some time to get this chapter right, but I hope you'll like it._

_**Edit: Please, don't tell my Renesmee is too childish. In the first chapters I explained she was sheltered, thus making her very dependent on her parents. That's why she acts like that sometimes.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 7

RPOV

Living in a house full of vampires had its ups and downs. One thing it sucked was that we had to leave whenever we wanted to talk in private, since anyone would be able to hear the conversation if we stay home.

So my dad and I ran through the woods behind our house, as far away as we could go so no one else would hear us.

Soon we reached the same opening Mom and I were not twenty minutes ago, so I sat down near a tree, motioning for my father to do the same.

"Dad," I started as soon as he took a seat next to me.

"There are some things that Mom and I have kept a secret from you. We talked, and I'm ready to tell you, but you have to listen to me first, okay? You have to promise that you won't overreact, and listen. Please."

My father was prone to overreacting, so the pleading was necessary.

"I promise." He said, nodding at the same time.

"Okay," I took a deep breath and started. "You remember Jacob, right?"

He hissed. "Yes."

"I- I didn't tell you everything that happened." I looked down, a bit embarrassed, but mostly afraid.

My dad put a hand under my chin, and lifted it up so I would look at him.

"Don't be afraid, baby. I promised I'd listen." He reassured me.

"You remember what happened, right?" I continued after a few seconds.

"Yes," he replied.

"Well, Mom just ran into Jacob today, and-"

I was interrupted.

"What?" my dad shouted.

"Dad, you promised you'd listen." I begged him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before nodding, mumbling an apology.

"He was at grandpa's house, and he wanted to talk to her. She said he kept saying he was sorry, as if that would make it all okay." I sighed.

"Alice heard them, and she convinced Mom that we should tell everyone else."

"Okay." He replied.

"Keep in mind that it was my decision to keep it a secret. Mom was there, and that was the only reason why she knew it all and you didn't, okay?"

He nodded.

"Jacob didn't just beat me." I resumed.

"Everyone was out that day, either on a date or hunting, and Mom and I were hanging around the big house. I think we were just watching movies. I got tired, so I decided to go back to the cottage to sleep.

"She asked me if I wanted company, but I told her to wait for you at the big house, so you could have some alone time before going home. I told her I'd be just fine, I was a big girl."

Some tears started to fall, but I continued my story.

"I took a warm shower and got ready for bed. I was almost asleep when I heard something nearby; after a few seconds I could smell Jacob. I didn't know what he wanted. I hadn't talked to him in a long time, and had no desire to do so in the middle of the night.

"He broke in; the door slammed open, and he walked straight into my room. I could smell the alcohol all over him, he was reeking of it and obviously extremely drunk. My eyes went wide when I saw him. I asked him what he wanted and he... he said..." I couldn't finish.

"Shhhh, baby. Calm down. Deep breaths." My dad's soothing voice guided me. "Just calm down."

I did as I was told and was able to calm down a little.

"He said, 'I'm here to get what's rightfully mine'." I said in an impression of Jacob's voice.

"He grabbed my wrists, and I tried to fight him off, but he was so much stronger. He broke my left wrist, and I started crying from the pain.

"He slapped me in the face, and told me to shut up. Then he started saying that I was a worthless piece of shit, that I never gave him anything he wanted, and that I've always been his, so he was going to have me.

"He started hitting me so hard I couldn't even defend myself. I looked into his eyes, and all I could see was the rage in them. I was really scared as I had never seen him like that at all.

"He hit me again, and I curled up in a ball near my bed to try to lessen the blows. He pulled me up onto the bed and he…" I took a deep breath.

The worst had yet to come, and I could see my dad's face go from concerned to angry. I focused on the good things that had happened to me throughout my life so I could finish.

"He ripped off my top, and started touching me. He was on top of me, my clothes all ripped, when I came out of my trance.

"I started screaming really loudly, hoping that someone would hear me. He tried to silence me, but I kept on trashing and screaming.

"It didn't take three seconds for me to see her. I couldn't feel him on me anymore, and took deep breaths to regain control.

"I didn't see much, but I heard a lot of bones breaking and assumed Mom hit him pretty badly. He was able to run out and phase, though.

"Mom was by my side in a flash, asking me where it hurt. I tried to tell her, but the pain was so bad, all I could do was murmur the words. She looked me over and gasped as she saw my purple wrist; I thought it was because it looked bad, but she said later it was because she didn't know I could even break anything.

"I begged her not to tell anyone. She didn't want to do that, she wanted to call you right away, but after a while she caved. She had to carry me into the bathroom, and had to help me take a bath.

"She cleaned my room and threw away my ruined clothes, helping me put on something clean and then carrying me to your room. I could barely move, and her ice cold body helped soothe the pain, so she held me gently all night long.

"That was the first night I had nightmares ever since the Volturi. I woke up crying, and she went to comfort me with a hug, but I cried out in pain.

"She looked me over once again, gasping while doing so. All the bruises that were hidden the night before showed up, and I looked a mess. My wrist was twice its size, and throbbing.

"My ribs hurt badly, making it difficult for me to breathe. Mom looked horrified, begging me not to move while she went out for a minute.

"It wasn't like I could move all that much anyway, so I complied. She came back two minutes later with Grandpa Carlisle. Grandma had to go hunting after their date, and he was doing some more research.

"He tapped my ribs and was able to cast my wrist quickly." Thankfully my Grandpa was prepared for all occasions. "Mom told him Jacob had hit me, but she didn't tell him everything. We stuck to that story ever since."

My dad looked murderous as I finished the story. His eyes were pitch black, a physical manifestation of his emotions.

"Daddy," I said in a small voice. "I'm sorry."

His face immediately turned to concern.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I just can't believe I didn't know about this. I am going to kill that, that _dog__._"

He got up, and for the looks of it, he was ready to run all the way to La Push.

"NO! Daddy, don't! Don't go there by yourself, please, what if anything happens to you, I can let that happen, please, Daddy." I was crying again.

He walked back and wrapped his arms around me.

"Shh, sorry, I'm sorry Ness, I'm not thinking straight." He apologized.

"It's okay." I buried my face on the spot right under his neck. I was feeling so tired.

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, baby. But I'm not going to let that stupid mutt get away from this, okay? But I promise I won't go alone." I nodded.

He kept his hold on me, sighing quietly.

"Do you have nightmares frequently?" He asked as he ran his hand through my hair in a calming gesture.

"Almost every day." I confessed.

"But I never heard you. How could I have missed the obvious signs?" I could tell he was angry at himself now.

"Daddy, it's not your fault okay? I usually didn't make any sounds, and when I did, you heard me. You knew I had nightmares, just not how often. Mom knew, she always knew somehow. But she's the only one."

"Okay," he replied. "How come your mother knows everything?"

"Daddy, she saved me. She knew right away. And as for the nightmares, well, sometimes she'd sleep with me when you were away, and she'd 'watch' my dreams.

"She'd hear me cry at night, and come see me. She's also the only one that can shield you, so you wouldn't need to worry." I was glad that I had learned how to shield my mind.

When he had heard about what had happened, he'd gone ballistics. He had wanted to hunt Jacob down, but we stopped him. He would break the treaty, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Also, Jacob had run away and was nowhere to be found. We stayed in Forks for about a month, which was about the time it took for me to recover, before deciding it was time to move on.

"I'm sorry, I just still can't believe you both kept this from me for so long."

"I'm sorry, Daddy, I really am. But Mom knew I wanted to keep going on with my life and if you knew, or Uncle Jazz or Uncle Em, even Rosie, you'd never let me out of your sight again, and I didn't want anyone's pity.

"Mom helped me, she saw what I really wanted and supported me, instead of becoming an overprotective parent, like I knew you would. Please, please, don't get mad at us and please, let me live my life without the over protectiveness."

I said all this without even moving from my spot on the crook of his neck, needing the reassurance.

"I'm not mad, my love. I'm just frustrated. The two most important people in my life were hurting, and I didn't do anything." He was right.

Mom was hurting just as much, mostly because she had to see me break down every other week. It hurt her to see me so broken.

"I told you, it's not your fault, Dad." I yawned. "I love you, daddy."

"I believe you." He whispered, kissing my forehead. "I love you too, my princess. Let's get you to bed, okay?"

I just nodded as I was really tired. He got up with me and carried me back to the house. Everyone was in the living room, probably waiting for us.

Dad passed them and took me to my room. I heard someone following behind, and I looked up to see mom with a worried expression.

Dad put me on my bed, and kissed me on the forehead. I could see he was really angry.

Mom hugged him tight, and whispered. "Calm down, Edward, please."

He looked at mom, nodded and took a deep, unnecessary breath. She kissed him on the lips and said they'd talk later.

He went downstairs, and I could hear him start the lullaby he had written for me when I was little. Playing the piano was one of the only things that calmed him down.

Mom helped me out of my shoes and jeans and lay down beside me. She held me close, and I put my head on the crook of her neck, just like I did with dad, and sighed, contently.

She kissed my forehead and whispered, "Sweet dreams, my Renesmee."

I was feeling somewhat lighter, after talking to my daddy, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I kissed my mom's neck, - that was all I could reach – and drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 8

_Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews and alerts. Sorry it took long to update, I was busy graduating, lol. I finally have my Bacharel! _

_Anyways, there isn't Jacob yet in this chap, I was going to put him, but I'd have to change POV's and it'd be too messed up to read. So next chap will be on Edward's POV, about Jacob =]_

_**Edit: The action starts... sort of.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 8

RPOV

I woke up the next day feeling a lot better. Mom was still lying next to me, so I sighed contently and buried my face on her shoulder. She had such an amazing, calming scent.

"Time to wake up, sweetie. We have to go to school, and Alice and I have something for you."

I looked up, confused.

"You'll see it soon," she winked.

I got up, and started getting ready for school. Took a shower, brushed my teeth, and combed my hair. When I was done with that, I heard Aunt Alice calling a family meeting.

I just put on some jeans and a shirt and went barefoot to see what it was all about.

I walked into the living room feeling confused, and it only increased when I saw Alice and Mom waiting for us with smiles on their faces.

They were holding a few bags of what looked like a place that made customized clothing.

Even Dad looked confused as he walked in, which meant Mom was blocking Alice for the time being.

"Alice had this vision while we were shopping." Mom started explaining. "Apparently, we were all going to be in a bad mood today. She couldn't see why, but now we know," she said while looking at me.

I blushed a little and looked down. "So we decided to get all of us something different to wear to school today." She finished with a smile.

Alice handed each one a small bag.

"It's just for fun. I knew we'd be down, needing some cheering up, so this hopefully will help. I know we're not supposed to bring too much attention to ourselves, but by tomorrow everyone will be talking about the Homecoming dance, so it'll be fine."

She handed one shirt to each of us and we all went into our rooms to change. I had to finish getting ready anyways; pulling my hair up in a ponytail and putting on my new purple top.

We all looked silly, which was the goal. As we met up by the cars, no one could hold their laughs in.

Alice had gotten each of us a simple tank top or t-shirt with 'Vegetarian' written on them, as part of the inside joke running through the family. Since we didn't hunt humans, we were known as vegetarians.

In school, everyone stared, but it didn't bother us. It actually made me want to laugh even more. Alice was right, it did improve my mood right away.

We reached English in no time and I sat next to Sara while Alice and Bella sat behind us.

"Nice shirt," Sara said, quite amused. "Pretty creative."

"Thanks," I replied, "Alice and Bella got one for each of us when they went on their trip."

"I didn't know you were a veggie, though. I mean, you had that burger at the mall." Sara looked confused.

It took all my strength not to laugh in her face. I couldn't tell her the reason behind it, so I settled for a subtle lie, again.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to try something different. But that burger tasted disgusting. I'm keeping to my diet from now on." I laughed a little.

"Cool," she replied. "So, the whole family's vegetarian?" She asked innocently.

I chuckled a bit. If only she knew. "Yes," was all I said.

The teacher then started the lecture, so we had to pay attention.

Before I knew it, it was lunch time. We all walked into the full cafeteria, and went straight to our table, not bothering to grab any prop food.

"They're really entertaining to watch, don't you think?" Alice broke the silence with her tinkling laugh.

Most of the students were still staring.

"Their thoughts are quite amusing as well. I must say, Alice, that was a great idea. I can't even remember why I was in such a bad mood," he winked at me, giving me that crooked smile he once said was reserved for me and Mom.

"Thanks, Alice," I said, smiling. "It did help me a lot." I gave her an one armed hug, since she was sitting next to me.

She pecked my cheek, and smiled.

"I knew it," she said, pointing to her forehead. Of course, the fortune-teller would know.

I smiled back and said, "Of course," like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I wanted to tell the family right away, about everything I told Dad last night. It would be easier now, especially since everyone was in a good mood.

"Let's wait till we get home, sweetie, please." Mom whispered to me. She was touching my hand, and I unconsciously let her into my mind.

"You know how they are, they'll make a scene, and we don't want that, do we?" She wrote the last part as a text message on her cell phone so no one would hear.

"Wanna share?" Dad asked at the same time Jasper exclaimed, "Focus on one feeling, please?"

"It's nothing," replied Mom. "We were just talking."

She gave Dad a pointed look, which let him know immediately what we were talking about.

They all forgot about it a second later, going back to their conversations. The bell rang half an hour later, and I walked slowly towards my next lesson, which was conveniently Calculus.

I hadn't talked to Nick yet, and had sincerely forgotten all about him during the weekend, but now that I could see him, it all came back full force.

I put it in my head that I had to talk to him, to show him I wasn't some snobby rich girl with an IQ of ten.

I sat down next to Sara, and turned around to talk to Nick.

"Hi, Nick," I greeted him. "How are you?"

He looked up at me and blushed a little. He seemed shy all of a sudden. He was the most popular sophomore and still got embarrassed over a girl talking to him?

"Hi, Nessie," he replied, shyly. "I'm good and you?" I took that as a good sign.

"Oh, I'm great," I smiled at him, "I had the best weekend ever, what about you?"

He seemed shocked. I guess people weren't really interested in his life, just wanted to be around him so they could bask on his popularity; which, from what I had heard, came from his older brothers. He was an instant 'celeb' in school because of them.

We made small talk until the teacher arrived and we were forced to stop. He was a really sweet guy from what I could gather, not at all like those jocks we hear about on TV.

Just as the bell rang, I slipped him a piece of paper with my number on it, letting him know we should talk more.

And he smiled at me in response, which almost disarmed me. What was happening to me?

The school day ended way too soon for my liking, and we were back home in no time.

I had made the decision to tell everyone about the Jacob ordeal, and I wouldn't back down, no matter how scared I was. I was tired of hiding.

We took a couple of hours to relax and wait for Grandpa to arrive, and as he did we all convened in the living room. I sat in between my parents, needing their support.

The rest of the family scattered around the room, sitting with their respective mates.

"I have something to tell you all," I started talking. "And it's serious."

They all looked at me, expectantly.

"Is it about the nightmare?" Rose asked.

I nodded.

"What nightmare?" Emmett asked, clearly confused.

"She had a nightmare on Saturday." Rose explained. "It was so horrible, she woke up screaming and crying, and she even yelled at us that she wanted to talk to Bella at all cost."

"Renesmee!" Mom exclaimed.

I looked at her apologetically, and mouthed 'sorry' as Rose continued with her story.

"She talked to Bella and seemed to calm down immediately. She went back to sleep and I watched her dreams, but she slept soundly."

Mom looked at me again, and smile a little. She liked the idea that she could still calm me down, even after I was all grown up. I smiled back at her in appreciation.

"Why didn't we know about it?" Emmett whined.

"I didn't want anyone to know, Uncle Em, sorry." I told him.

"But Bella knows." He was still complaining.

"Yes, of course, Uncle. She's my mother, and she was there. It wasn't like I could hide it from her."

He decided to let it go.

I took a deep breath, and looked up. I was leaning into my mother, with my father's hand clasped tightly in mine, his arm thrown over both mine and Mom's shoulders.

They gave me an encouraging nod, and I took another deep breath so I could begin my tale.

I did not leave any detail out. I told them of the attack, everything he had said, what he had tried to do to me. I told them how Mom saved me, how she hurt him back.

I also told them about the encounter Mom had with him at grandpa's. How Alice found out, that I told my dad everything last night, and made him promise not to go after Jacob alone.

Jasper nodded, approvingly. I bet he just did that because he wanted to take part on this revenge. I also told them why I didn't tell them all before.

"I wanted to have a normal life, I didn't want anyone's pity and really didn't want anyone hovering over me. I knew that all of you would be totally overprotective, and stay on my back twenty-four/seven, and I didn't want that.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone, but I wasn't ready. And don't get mad at Mom either, I made her promise not to tell anyone, okay?"

They nodded, still looking shocked and enraged.

"Uncle Jazz, have anything to say?" I asked.

"How were you able keep this a secret?" He asked, his eyes wide.

"It wasn't that hard, actually. No one was there, so no one heard anything. Mom's a shield, and you know I also learned how to protect my mind. We just didn't tell the whole story, that was all. I'm sorry." I looked down.

"It's okay, Nessie." Aunt Rose spoke up. "I understand how you feel, and why you didn't want to tell anyone."

Of course, Aunt Rose _was_ raped just before she was turned.

"We're still going after him, right?" Uncle Emmett asked, quite hopeful.

I looked at him, than Uncle Jasper and Dad. They all had the same looks on their faces. They wanted a fight.

"What?" I stuttered.

Even though it had been ten years, most of the wolves had stopped phasing to be with their loved ones.

But there were still a bunch of them out there, and they could hurt my family.

"I don't know." Grandpa spoke up. "He did hurt our girl, but is it enough to risk a war? You know the treaty."

"I promised Ness I wouldn't go alone," my dad said. "And I'm keeping that promise. I don't care if we start a war. The treaty was broken the second that mutt laid a hand on my daughter.

"We have the right to retaliate. Emmett, Jasper and I will go tonight. We need a strategy." He said the last part looking at Jasper.

"No way," Mom exclaimed. "It's way too dangerous. What if he hurts one of you, or you get killed?"

"We don't care. He hurt our niece, we hurt him." Emmett said.

Their minds were made up, there was nothing we could say to stop them now.

"You better call every hour, or we will make sure you're dead," Rosie threatened, but still showed her support.

They started planning, and I turned my face to I could hide it on my mother's neck. I couldn't stand it, how they were so careless with their lives, risking it for me.

I didn't even notice I was crying until Mom pointed it out.

After a while, I felt Mom lay me down gently before she disappeared upstairs with Dad.

I found them in their room twenty minutes later, just talking. Mom was worried, but she was trying to be brave for us.

They got ready to leave at about nine. The three of them said their goodbye, lingering a little with their mates.

Mom and I hugged Dad as if there were no tomorrow, and he kissed our foreheads whispering 'I love you' to us.

"We love you, too, Dad," I told him. "Please, be safe."

He nodded, and left. Jasper and Emmett followed him, and they were off to Forks.

Grandpa sighed, resigned as he watched the car drive away. He was torn; we all knew he was anti-violence, but he had seen what Jacob had done to me.

He wanted revenge just as badly as the others.

I sat down once again, just hoping they would come back to us.

* * *

_The whole Vegetarian shirt thing was my idea and came from personal experience. I have a tank top one (from Peta) and I went with my top to the Twilight premiere here. People were staring and I thought it was because I was one of the oldest there, being 21, and didn't give much thought. After the movie was done, I realized people were staring a lot at my chest, and remembered what I was wearing. Talk about coincidences. I had a blast afterwards, laughing out loud everytime someone stared at me. I didn't copy this idea from anyone (just wanted to be sure)._


	10. Chapter 9

_Hey guys. Thanks a lot for the reviews and alerts, it's been inspiring =D _

_For those who read last chapter, I put the links for pics of the tank tops/shirts I wrote about. _

_This chapter was hard to write, I must've changed it like, three times. I hope you like it. I tried a little humor, but I don't think I'm good at it lol. Please review, and let me know what you think =]_

_**Edit: I have changed this up a little bit in this chapter. **_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 9

EPOV

We drove straight to Forks, stopping only for gas and at customs, and the trip took about three hours.

It was around midnight when we arrived in our old house; we would wait until after the sunrise to approach Charlie's house.

Charlie had told Bella that Sue couldn't just leave Jacob unattended, more now that Billy had passed away.

So the dog spent quite a lot of time at Charlie's, though he never, ever directly talked to him. Charlie had forbidden him to even address him during dinner.

I guess it was in the Swan's blood to hold a grudge. Bella was usually a forgiving person, but no one should mess with her family.

Charlie was just like that as well, and Jacob was stupid enough to mess with both his _only_ daughter and granddaughter.

We were on his front steps at seven, knowing he would be up. Charlie answered the door, looking extremely surprised to see us.

"What are you doing here? Is Bella with you? Nessie?" He asked while looking around.

"No, sorry. We came alone. Would it be possible if we talked for a little while?" I asked him.

I knew he had retired a few years ago, so he didn't have anywhere to be for a while.

"Yes, of course." He opened the door fully to let us in, and the three of us walked into the living room swiftly.

"I guess you're aware that Jacob approached Bella while she was visiting, right?" He nodded in agreement.

"After that, some things came to our attention. It seemed we never really knew the whole story about what happened." I told him.

I had asked Nessie for her permission to tell her grandfather so she wouldn't need to do so, and she agreed.

So I told him all that my daughter had confessed just a couple of days before, so he knew what he was dealing with, and what was the motive for our visit.

"We didn't know, and even though I had tried to get to him ten years ago just for beating up my baby girl, the attempt rape made it all worse."

My sister had gone through it, and I knew it would forever define who she was, no matter how hard she tried to forget about it.

It was a burden I did not want on my little girl, and knowing he had almost taken her innocence like that made me see red. I didn't care if it were ten years later, he would pay for it.

"So, we were hoping you would just forget we were here; we need to get to Jacob, but we really don't want to go to jail." I said.

Charlie agreed right away. "If I could, I would shoot him right now." He was seething.

"My only grandchild, and he almost... he did... I want to kill him.

"So yes, you have my permission, and I'll pretend I never saw you around. I'd do it myself, but I know he's not a normal human being, and neither are you, so my chances of getting hurt are higher. I'll let you avenge us all."

"Awesome." Emmett exclaimed. He was always ready for a fight.

"Leah has her own place in La Push, but she comes over most of the time. Jacob follows her around, so he'll be here soon." Charlie let us know.

We thanked him, leaving him alone to digest all we had told him. I heard from his mind that he would call Bella soon, he was just waiting until it was a more reasonable hour.

We only had to wait around an hour before we heard a car approach the house. We were waiting just outside in plain sight, so he wouldn't go inside.

Leah was skeptical about leaving the car, but I could hear Jacob seething in his mind.

"Jacob." I greeted as he ran to us, stomping his feet.

"What are you doing here, leech?" He sneered at me, trying to stare me down.

"Some things came to light a few days ago, we're here to clear it out." Jasper replied.

Leah approached us wearily, not knowing what to do. Seth had woken up and also joined us, both siblings watching expectantly.

"Let's go into the forest." I said in an authoritarian voice.

We had agreed to make it as easy on Charlie as we could, and we didn't want him witnessing what could happen.

We made sure he followed us, Leah and Seth trailing behind.

"What's this all about?" Leah asked once we stopped.

"Jacob knows, don't you, Jacob?"

He didn't reply, but I could hear his thoughts.

"_Guess Bella told them about our little talk."_

"You're right, she did. Did you think she would keep this a secret from me? If you're still not sure why we're here, I'll refresh your memory for you.

"Ten years ago, I came home one day to find my daughter beaten up so badly she could hardly move. She's a hybrid, so you'd wonder what would be able to break her bones so easily, right?

"I was told you had hit her. And I almost went looking for you, but my wife said you were not worth it. My wife, your once best friend, said you were worthless. The same words you spat out to my daughter as you attempted to rape her.

"It's because of you that she's still scared of being around men. It's your fault she had nightmares almost every day. It's because of you my wife and daughter couldn't come clean with me.

"My daughter was afraid of how I would react. It took her ten years to tell me, and that was only because Alice accidentally found out.

"You scarred her for life, Jacob. You got away with it for ten years, but not anymore."

Jacob didn't say anything; his lips were almost white from how hard he seemed to be biting them, but he kept quiet.

Seth and Leah, on the other hand, had their mouths wide open.

"You think you'd beat her up, try to rape her, and it wouldn't have consequences?" Emmett threatened.

"You tried to _rape_ Nessie?" Leah shrieked, her mouth still open. "I can't believe it, after all you made _us_ go through because of her, you just go and hurt her? What are you, insane?"

"I-I, I was drunk!" He tried to defend himself.

"I don't care if you were fucking high, what were you thinking? Oh right, you weren't. You never think of the consequences, or who gets hurt if they dare stand in your way. I can't believe you would do that." She sneered.

"I didn't mean to." He started again, but this time I interrupted.

"You didn't mean to? Really, Jacob? You got drunk and suddenly the idea came to you, 'I think I'm going to go hurt Nessie tonight'. That's not how it works, Jacob.

"You had that idea in your head for a long time. You didn't just happen to get drunk and break into our home on the night Nessie was there alone. The night all the family was away.

"You know how our family works. You know our gifts and limitations, and you played your cards well. You didn't count on Bella being around, though. You knew that she went where I went, but that night she wanted to spend some alone time with her daughter.

"The drinking was what gave you the courage to do it. Nessie wanted nothing to do with you, even after you hinted and hinted you wanted more. She didn't even want to be friends. Just like her mother, right? Was that it? You couldn't stand being rejected once again, this time by Bella's daughter?"

His nostrils were flexing in anger, but I didn't care.

"Renesmee learned how to shield her mind. How else do you think you survived for so long?" I asked rhetorically. "But I can hold a grudge."

He was starting to look scared now.

"My niece, the most amazing, innocent little girl, almost had to go through such a burden because of you." Emmett said while flexing his muscles. "You should be scared."

"I knew you didn't have a good mind, I just knew it. You showed your true self that one day when you kissed Bella by force.

"Then you played with her, knowing full well she would feel guilty because she didn't return your feelings, so you made her think you would kill yourself because of her.

"I knew you thought it was all a game, but it never was. I was not playing with her, and she knew that. You made her feel guilty and broken. You told her she'd be better off dead than a vampire, and then you want our daughter to love you?

"No matter how hard I tried, I could not understand how you could even think that. I knew how your mind worked. And I'm glad you're out of our lives for good."

"I… I…" He couldn't form a full word.

"I'm so happy we moved far away from here, just so I don't have to look at your face every day. We came here for justice. An eye for an eye." I told him.

"And since you broke the treaty first, you have no excuse to sic your wolf friends on us. We have the right to retaliate."

"No one is declaring war after this, Edward. I'll make sure of it." Leah said.

It actually surprised me; she always loathed us.

"Thank you, Leah."

My brothers and I circled him, making sure he could not escape.

Leah and Seth would be of no help. Both their minds showed how disgusted they were with their friend, and both of them thought he deserved it.

I could hear how truly scared Jacob was, even though he was trying to put on a tough front. Jasper could feel the fear, and kept feeding Jacob more of it, incapacitating him somehow.

Jacob even crouched in position, but he knew he didn't stand a change. He was lucky we respected our father too much to kill him.

Carlisle would always be against killing anyone unless extremely necessary.

Emmett approached him first, and in a second had Jacob in his grip. Jasper stood to the side, letting me know I had the floor for now.

"That's for my daughter," I punched his face, "and that's for kissing my Bella by force." I couldn't do anything back then. Now was my chance.

"You're never laying your eyes on them again," I punched him again, this time on the stomach.

He freed one of his hands from Emmett's grip and tried to hit me back, but I could hear his thoughts and blocked it easily.

Emmett kicked his legs and he fell down, whimpering. Jasper threw in a few punches as well, effectively breaking his nose.

"How does it feel to be defenseless? To not be able to hit back?" I asked as I hit him once more.

"This was exactly how you made my daughter feel. Helpless, weak and broken. She will never, ever be worthless, no matter how much those words still haunt her." I kicked him once more.

"She's better than you'll ever be." I finished it off with a last kick to his ribs.

It astounded me how in control the three of us were. We never went for his neck once, and never tried to bite him at all.

Our venom was poison for the wolves, so if we did bite him, he'd most likely die soon.

Jacob was crumpled on the floor, whimpering in pain. Leah and Seth were a few feet behind us, looking at everything in shock, both still as statues.

From their minds, I gathered they thought he deserved it. Apparently Jacob had never told anyone about what he had done.

Seth seemed extremely shocked. His friend and mentor was a lying scumbag.

He couldn't believe Jacob would do something like that, especially since he had _imprinted_ on her. I hated that word.

"Are you okay, Seth?" I asked, sidestepping Jacob to reach the young wolf.

"If I'd known about this, _I _would've made sure he wasn't anywhere her again." He said in response.

Seth was the one wolf not filled with prejudice, so he could actually see it only as a man trying to hurt a young girl, instead of his alpha doing it.

Leah walked over towards us and helped Jacob up.

"He got what he deserved." She said while looking at us. "I agree with you that he needed a taste of his own medicine, but if you don't mind, I'm gonna go take care of him."

We just shrugged, watching as she walked, supporting most of Jacob's weight.

We had all gotten what we came here for, and now we were even.

"You didn't come here to kill, did you?" Seth asked while we walked back to Charlie's.

"Making him suffer like that is way more rewarding. He wouldn't feel the pain my baby had to feel if we just killed him. And besides, Carlisle doesn't believe in killing unless absolutely necessary, and we follow his beliefs." I explained.

Charlie was waiting for us on the front porch.

"He was in pretty bad shape." He commented as if he were talking about the weather. "Good job." He whispered the last part.

We all nodded in thanks.

"He'll heal quickly, but just knowing he's in pain right now is enough. My little girl spent almost a month in bed, and that's because she's stronger than the average human.

"I couldn't even think what would have happened were she weaker." I shook my head trying to rid my mind of the images.

Charlie invited us in, but we declined. Emmett and Jasper were really anxious to go back to their mates, and I really wanted to see my family again.

So we said our goodbyes to Charlie and Seth, and started our way back. A few miles away, I accidentally heard Jacob's thoughts.

"_Damn leeches. I'll get my revenge, just wait and see."_

I just looked at my brothers, and told them what I heard.

They sighed.

"Is he stupid or something?" Jasper asked.

Most likely.

So, instead of going home to our families, we went back to our old house. We needed a new plan.


	11. Chapter 10

_Hey guys, new chapter up. I decided to wait a few days to post, cause of the error on FF, I knew there'd be too many stories being posted at the same time. _

_I need help: I need a new name for this story lol, it's quite boring as it is now. And I need to know what to do with Jacob =D I'm still deciding, so any opinions will be greatly appreciated. _

_While that's being decided, some mother/daughter moments for you... not necessarily Bella/Ness =D There might be some inconsistence with the chapter 'Vegetarians', but I felt the need to put some Bella/Edward cuteness after that chap was posted, sorry, I take all the blame for that =P_

_**Edit: No more inconsistencies. I made sure to rewrite this all so it made sense.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 10

BPOV

They were going to Forks soon. I was so scared, but I couldn't let him know. Edward needed to get his anger out somehow, and I sure didn't want to be in his way when he did.

He, Emmett and Jasper were talking, but I wasn't paying attention to them. I just kept running my hand through my daughter's hair, trying to calm her and me down. She was trying to be brave, but I could smell the salt of her tears.

They came back a few minutes later, all intent on following through with their promise. I lay my baby on the couch before following my husband up to our room.

We lay on our bed, just holding each other. I didn't want to show him just how scared I was, but he knew me better than anyone, and could sense my fear even when I tried to hide it.

"Are you sure?" I asked in a whisper.

"I hate to leave you girls here," said he as he kissed my forehead.

"But I need to do this. He needs to pay, I don't care if it's been ten years, he still needs to pay. I'll be careful, I promise, love." He said, and then gave me a sweet kiss on the lips.

"I'm scared," I admitted.

"Don't be, sweetheart. I'll be okay." He tried to comfort me again, kissing me sweetly. I cuddled up more, and he kissed my hair.

We were like this for a while, until we heard someone come into our room, already knowing who it was.

We looked up, and Nessie was standing there with her tear stained face. She looked so broken, it hurt to look.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," she said, her hand already on the door knob.

"You're not interrupting anything, baby, come sit with us." Edward said.

She sat on both our laps, her head resting on my shoulder. We were all silent, just enjoying the company while we could. Edward would be leaving soon.

As if on cue, he sighed.

"Jasper says we should get ready," he said, getting up.

"I'm going downstairs to help him with a few things." He let us know, blowing us a kiss from the doorway.

"You'll think he'll be okay, Momma?" Nessie asked me quietly.

"I don't know, May, I hope so."

"I'm so scared," she said,

"Me, too, baby." I admitted.

I hugged her closer, and she held onto me.

A few minutes later I heard Edward calling us, so I just picked her up and went down the stairs.

When we got down, I heard Renesmee whisper.

"I do know how to walk, Mom."

I laughed a bit, and gave her a kiss.

"I know, baby, I'm sorry. Guess I was too eager to get here."

She just looked at me and nodded.

Edward walked over to us, wrapping his arms around us both. I rested my face on his shoulder, inhaling deeply.

His scent had a calming effect on me, and I needed it at the moment.

"We're going now, but we'll be back before you know it." He tried to reassure us, but he could tell it wasn't working.

"There's no need to get worked up. We'll only seek him out, and get nowhere near any other wolf. I'll call you as soon as I can." He promised and I finally nodded in agreement.

He kissed our daughter's forehead, lingering for a moment.

"For you, princess. I'll never let you down again." He whispered, his voice defeated.

I knew he would blame himself for all that happened, which was one of the reasons I had agreed with Nessie on keeping it all a secret. "I love you."

She nodded, and I could see the tears forming behind her closed eyes.

"I'll be fine, Bella. I'll call you when I can." He promised again. "I love you." He declared, leaning down a bit to kiss my lips deeply, but still keeping it chaste.

I lifted my shield with a bit of difficulty and thought to him. _"Please, be careful, Edward. I love you too much to lose you like that."_

He nodded minutely, kissing me once again before letting go of both of us.

The three of them walked towards the car, and the panic I managed to smother came back full force. I had to excuse myself from the room as soon as I saw the car drive down the road.

I went to my room, sitting down on my beloved window seat just staring ahead.

I couldn't think straight, so it was better that I was here alone for now. I was loathing that I was not able to cry, because it would sure help me get my emotions in check.

It wasn't that I cared for Jacob, but I was scared for him. Edward could be lethal, as I had seen first hand. I knew they wouldn't kill the dog, but intense injury was definitely on their mind.

I had lost all respect for Jacob the day he attacked my child, and could honestly say I could never, ever forgive him. It made me think about all he had done for me and then to me.

While he was still human, he was the best friend one could have asked for. Being a wolf changed him for the worst, and he became angrier and, I later learned, manipulative.

But I digress.

I was afraid the wolves could get wind of it and come to Jacob's aid, which would leave our guys in disadvantage. What if my Edward got hurt, or worse, killed?

Thankfully there were no new wolves, and most of the usual ones had stopped phasing, so the connection with Jacob's mind was closed.

I was thankful no one else became a wolf after the Volturi left; new wolves were volatile and it made them even more dangerous to everyone around.

They were more dangerous than us, the vampires. At least we could think before attacking, and tried very hard not to shoot first and ask questions later.

Carlisle had taught us that and we all honored it. It made the wolves' prejudice towards us even more unjustified.

I could understand the hate, since it was ingrained in their genes or something like that, but I didn't like to judge anyone without knowing them first.

No matter what mythical creature they were.

My mind came up with many different scenarios, one worse than the other, and I had to physically hold my head to try to stop my thoughts.

I kept staring straight ahead, trying hard not to think, but obviously failing miserably.

I finally moved when I noticed the moon was higher up in the sky, deciding on checking on my daughter, who I had all but neglected these last few hours.

I found them on the living room. Renesmee was cuddled up with Rose, watching a movie, while Alice and Esme were sitting on the music room, talking quietly.

I passed through the living room, kissing my daughter's head to let her know I was sorry for leaving her alone before heading towards Esme.

"Bella," Esme exclaimed. "How are you feeling, dear?"

I went to her, and just like a little kid needing her mom, sat on her lap and rested my head on her shoulder.

"I'm so scared, Mom." I admitted yet again. "I don't know what I'll do if anything happens…" I was dry sobbing.

"Bella, shhh, they'll be fine, honey. They'll be back home in no time, you'll see." She hugged me tighter, and rocked me.

"You think so?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yes, honey, I do." She replied.

"They'll be fine, B. You worry too much." Alice said.

I laughed a little. "I know but I can't help it sometimes. It's just who I am, I always worry."

"We know," Alice said with a smile. "But we still love you."

I sighed, and let Esme comfort me. It felt good to let go of all responsibilities for a while, and be held by my Mom.

Esme had always been more of a mother than Renee, if only because she really was maternal and took care of me. I was not used to it, always having to look after my own mother and taking care of things no other kid had to worry about.

Esme let me be, caring for me as only a mother could.

And since I would never be allowed to see Renee again, I just tried not to dwell on it much. She was still my best friend, but she'd never been the mother, so I didn't feel guilty over thinking of Esme that way.

We talked a little, telling Esme about our shopping trip, which we didn't have time to share with anyone because of this mess.

She was delighted to know Alice had actually controlled herself, and enjoyed the whole process more.

We laughed a bit, after we told her about how our customized shirts were the talk of the school this morning.

Alice promised her we had gotten one for her as well, because she knew we'd all like it so much, so Esme would want one as well.

I could see what they were doing, and it was truly working. But I had to get up, since it was getting late and I knew my daughter would have nightmares over all this.

"Thanks for the chat, Mom," I pecked her cheek. "And for distracting me. It worked, I'm calmer." I winked at her. "Now, it's my time to be the mom."

"It's no problem, Bella. Anytime. I should see what Carlisle is up to." She got up and went upstairs.

I walked into the living room to see that the movie they were watching had just ended. I went over to where they were, and knelt down next to them.

"May, baby. It's late. Let's get to bed, okay?" I said gently, caressing her cheek lightly.

She nodded, saying a brief good night to everyone before going upstairs. She went straight to her room to shower, and I went to mine to change into something softer.

Just as I was done, my phone rang.

"Edward?" I answered before the second ring.

"_Yes, it's me, Bella. I just wanted to let you know we got here fine. We're just waiting for the sunrise to go to your father's. I'll call you back once I know more, okay?_"

"Okay. Please be careful. I love you." I reminded him.

"I will. Love you, too. Tell Ness I love her, too." He replied before he hung up.

I sighed. Now I would fret even more, wanting to know what was going on with them.

I walked into Renesmee's room just as she got out of the bathroom, showered, teeth brushed, and ready to bed. She looked at me with those haunted eyes.

"Momma, will you stay with me tonight? I'm scared."

"Of course, baby. Lie down." She did as told, and I lay down next to her.

She snuggled close, and I hugged her to me.

"Your dad just called. He asked me to tell you that he loves you." I informed her.

"Is he okay?" She asked.

"Yes, he just called to let me know they got there okay and were going to wait until the morning to go looking for him." I told her.

"Thanks for letting me know, Mom."

"Sure, baby. Now tell me, how was your weekend? We didn't get a chance to talk after all this."

She smiled and looked up.

"It was the best, Momma. Sara came over, and she didn't care about the whole being rich thing.

"We went to the mall, watched a movie, and ate. I tried to eat a burger, and ended up enjoying it." She confessed.

"Then Esme picked us up and we hung around here. We talked a lot, about our families and everything. She said she could tell how much I loved everyone by the way I talked about you.

"I don't think she has a good family, Mom. She said her mother doesn't care about her, and her father's always traveling.

"I also found out she didn't have any friends, so I vowed to be the best friend she'll ever have. I even bought her a dress for the dance next month."

I smiled down at her.

"I told you, you had nothing to worry about. You made friends pretty easily."

"Anyways, after I had the nightmare, Rose stayed with me the whole night. The next day, we had a lot of fun. We baked cookies, and they were really good. We watched some movies. _Pride and Prejudice,_ which reminds me of you and dad, and…"

I interrupted her.

"Why does it remind you of us?"

"Well, Mr. Darcy and Lizzie hated each other at first, like you thought Daddy hated you, but in the end they realize they're in love with each other, just like you and Daddy." She smiled again.

I guess I could see where she got that. It did make sense.

"Okay, continue."

"Then we watched _Chicago_, and we had just finished _Across the Universe_ when you and Aunt Alice arrived."

"Sounds like you had a good time, sweetie."

"I did! And today I talked to Nick at school," she beamed. "He was so sweet."

"Nick? Oh, the Calc guy?" She had told me about him briefly.

I was actually glad to see that she was trying to interact with a boy. She'd been so scared to go anywhere near a man that wasn't family ever since the attack, I thought she would never be able to fully trust anyone again.

"Yeah, he's nice and all, and I kinda like him," she said, barely in a whisper.

"I'm glad you do, baby. Can't you see? You, on your own, approached a boy without cowering in fear. It's progress, baby girl. One day you'll even be able to be alone with him, you'll see."

She smiled. "You think so?"

I knew for a fact she hated the way she reacted whenever someone got too near. She wanted to heal, and maybe now that our lives were back on track it would be possible.

"I really think so."

We stayed in silence for a while, but May broke it as she wanted to know what had happened on my weekend.

"You know, it was awesome, too. Your Aunt Alice actually behaved herself, and we had a great time. She didn't jump into all the stores, we just acted our age for once, laughed and talked a lot. I really missed being with Alice, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, Mom. You and her are perfect for each other, you know? Like you complete her and vice versa. I think it's really cute." She smiled at me.

I touched her nose with my index finger.

"Thank you. Anyways, after you called, Alice started asking some questions, so I just told her you'd tell everyone when you were ready. She decided to drop it, and told me we'd go back through Forks so I could see Charlie.

"We arrived there, and _the dog_ was there, but we ignored him for the whole day. We talked with Charlie a bit, and as we were leaving, Jacob asked to talk to him. You know the rest.

"Then I got home, and was attacked by my daughter that almost hugged me to death," I laughed, hugging her a bit tighter.

"Sorry about that, Mom. I really missed you."

"I'm not complaining. I really like it that you still rely on me so much. Most kids usually hate their parents. I'm glad you're not one of them."

"I have the best parents ever. I could never hate you, Momma. I love you. _More than my own life."_ She quoted the inscription on the locket I gave her all those years ago.

She still wears it.

"Nah, _I_ have the best daughter in the world." I told her. "I love you."

She snuggled closer, and I kissed her hair. I knew our little moment would be ruined, though. I needed to tell her about my past.

"May, before you go to sleep, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you."

"What is it, Mom?"

I took a deep breath, and said,

"It's about Jacob." She shifted a bit, but I held her close. "He once kissed me by force. I broke my hand when I punched him." I told her.

"I'm sorry we never told you that, but we didn't want to bring it up. He played with my feelings, and got me to kiss him, making me think he would kill himself if I didn't.

"He thought I was in love with him, and just couldn't see it. But I could never, ever love anyone as much as I love your father, and when I realized I'd been played, I felt so mad.

"I really didn't want him anywhere near you when I learned about the imprint, but you seemed to like him.

"As you grew up, you started to notice his suffocating care; it made me so mad sometimes, you'd think he was your parent instead of Edward and I.

"The way he acted around you was extremely possessive, and Edward did the right thing by slowly driving him away. And then when you were old enough to decide for yourself, you did the same thing.

"I'm sorry we kept this all from you, but your father and I both decided it wouldn't do you any good to know, especially after what happened."

"I can't believe it," she exclaimed.

I held her close, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

She looked at me, shocked.

"Why, Mom? It was not your fault. I'm mad at Jacob. He just keeps ruining my life." She confessed.

"I do remember everything, you know that. Even when I was still in your womb, I can remember all that happened. And you're right, he was extremely possessive and I could tell you were annoyed when he tried to discipline me.

"I would always pick my family, Mom. He may have helped us with the Volturi ordeal, but it seems all the good things he did were overshadowed by his last act. He made his own choices, and we shouldn't dwell on it anymore." She reasoned.

"Don't get too worked up, sweetheart. Now, it's really late, so try to sleep. We have school tomorrow. I'll watch over you." I promised her.

She nodded, closing her eyes and shifting around a bit, trying to get comfortable.

I kissed her hair once more.

"Sweet dreams, baby, love you."

"Love you, too, Momma." And she was asleep.

* * *

_Yes, I'm aware that SM made Bella really love Jacob and all that, but it's FanFiction, and I don't lilke that plot line anyways..._


	12. Chapter 11

_New chapter up... There's two POV's, sorry if it's confusing, but it was the only way to make the story flow... _

_Also, Leah is a bit OOC. Or not, depending on how you see her on the series. That's my interpretation of her character so... Jacob's also OOC, but you already knew that lol_

_I hope you like it. Do let me know if it's good... or if it sucks =D_

_**Edit: Jacob's not my favorite, and you'll notice it in this chapter. Leah is a bit OOC still, but that depends on how you see her in the series. **_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 11

EPOV

The house was almost fully furnished and we had a few things we had left behind before we moved, so if worse came to worse, we'd be able to defend ourselves.

Jacob would take a while to heal properly, but it would still be faster than a human being. We'd have to stay around for another three or four days if we wanted to know his plans.

I waited until noon to call Bella, since she would be on her break at school. She answered immediately, her voice carrying a worried tone.

I felt truly bad for coming here and leaving her to worry about me, but I had to do it.

If only I had stopped that nonsense about imprinting as soon as I'd learned about it, Jacob would have been out of our lives long before he could attack my daughter.

"_Edward, what's wrong?"_ I heard Bella's voice bring me back to the present.

"Nothing, my love, I'm fine. I just wanted to hear your voice." I told her truthfully.

"_Okay, I'll pretend I believe you. When are you coming back? What's happening over there?"_ She questioned.

"We got him, and thought he got the message, but apparently he's got a death wish." I told her about his thoughts and how we would stay around to make sure we knew what he was planning so we could adjust accordingly.

I could hear the bell ring a few minutes later, so I started saying goodbye.

"Honey, you have to go to class right now. I promise I'll call you later, okay? I love you." I told her. That was one thing I would never get tired of repeating.

"_Love you, too. Be safe."_ She replied back.

"I will, bye." I say as I hung up.

Sighing, I threw my phone gently on the couch and sat down.

I didn't like that she was worrying so much about me. It seemed she forgot we were virtually indestructible.

But she knew me, and she knew why I had to come here, why I had to do it.

He had hurt my baby, my only daughter, the one thing I had never thought I'd have, and it was mainly my fault.

I rely too much on my mind reading, and sometimes I forget people can mask their thoughts.

All I could hear from Jacob's mind was that he loved my daughter and wanted to be her best friend. I could sense some possessiveness from him, he seemed to be always around and trying to raise her as if she had no parents.

We were careful about being around Renesmee; we knew she would grow up rather quickly and didn't want to miss anything.

She was rather sheltered, more for what she was than because we didn't want her to know the evils in the world.

Since we were always around, we started to notice just how much Jacob thought he could get away with.

I could sometimes hear him think that Bella and I owed him this because of the pain we had caused him, but I chose to ignore it at first.

If only I hadn't. We could have prevented all this.

It started the day Bella woke up as a vampire and saw Renesmee. He ruined their reunion, trying to stop Bella from holding her own child for the first time.

It progressed after the confrontation with the Volturi, he was overbearingly _protective_, arguing with my wife and me about _letting_ Renesmee visit her grandfather in town.

It reached a point where even my daughter was getting annoyed. I could hear it in her thoughts, but at first she didn't say anything.

She was like her mother in that way, trying not to displease anyone. But after a while she couldn't hold it in anymore, and slowly started distancing herself from him.

That was when she was about two, but physically five or six.

When he insisted, she would just give him the cold shoulder. He didn't understand why she was doing it, and put the blame on me. I actually didn't care, but he was relentless.

Apparently it was unheard of a girl who didn't respond to the imprint. But Nessie was no average human; half of her was built to hate him. It was in her genes, and would always be there.

A part of her, no matter how human she seemed, was vampire. She still thirsted for blood and had the qualities like those of a vampire.

He insisted on it for another five years, until she had fully grown up. He seemed intent on thinking I was the cause of her rejection, so as she became an adult physically, he thought she'd rebel and go back to him.

That wasn't what happened.

She was more insistent on him leaving her alone. She truly didn't want him around, and he was starting to realize it. So he started to show up less, not force his company on her.

She told me and her mother that it felt so freeing, so liberating to be able to go somewhere without facing an inquisition from someone _who wasn't even family._

I guess that was around the time he snapped. He must have spent a really long time planning and fantasizing about what could have been.

Maybe he saw her as the ideal woman, never getting old, never gaining weight.

I couldn't hear him anywhere near our house the night that _it_ happened. I wasn't as apprehensive as I used to be, but I liked to check things over before leaving my family behind for a weekend.

Maybe if I had delved deeper, not relying solely on my gift, I could have seen his true motives earlier. I knew he hadn't given up, I just thought he had more sense then to go against a whole coven of vampires.

"Edward?" I looked up, snapping back from my thoughts to see Jasper and Emmett in front of me.

I waited for them to continue.

"Were you able to pick up his thoughts from here?" Jasper asked.

In truth, I hadn't even tried.

"Sorry." I apologized for spacing out before focusing on minds nearby. I knew I wouldn't be able to hear anything in La Push, but it was worth a try.

Maybe he was around here.

"No, no one."

"We'll go talk to Seth tomorrow, then." Jasper suggested. "Even though the treaty was technically broken, we are still not allowed near the beach, but Seth has a free pass."

I knew from his thoughts that Seth had basically disowned Jacob as his Alpha, friend and mentor.

Even though he couldn't truly break free from his power unless he stopped phasing, Seth was defiant enough to try.

He would undoubtedly help us. He was appalled when he learned all that Jacob had done to his step-niece, and he couldn't care less about packs or loyalties at the moment.

He had a good mind and would do what he thought was right.

We waited until around nine in the morning to go back to Charlie's. Seth was living there for now; Charlie and Sue had the basement done so he could have a bit of independence while still being near his mother.

Seth told us Leah had called and let him know Jacob would recover just fine, it would only take a while. He wouldn't be able to phase for some time, since it would aggravate the wounds.

He told us Leah knew nothing about what he was planning, but she somehow knew he was up to something.

She would try to stop him as best as she could, but she confessed it wouldn't be easy.

He also reassured us that no one else had heard we were in town, and that fact would remain like that.

Jasper thought it better to wait out a few more days to be sure, so I called Bella back to give her an update and let her know we'd stay for a while. I didn't want her to feel left out or something like that.

I was truly hoping Jacob would come to his senses and see he had no chance against eight vampires.

After four days, we still didn't know anything. I had even gone to the treaty's border to try to listen to Jacob, but could not pick up his thoughts.

He was most likely not in his house, since it was nearer Forks than most of the others.

Convinced we would not be able to know more, we decided to pack up and go back home. If worse came to worse, we'd be able to protect ourselves.

But most importantly, we'd all protect Renesmee with our lives if we had to.

With a final visit to Charlie and Seth to reassure them we would call the moment we heard something was wrong, we let Forks to go back to our family.

..*..*..*..

JPOV

Everything hurt.

I couldn't even move, Leah had to carry me into her car. It was a good thing she was as strong as the rest of the wolves.

I was seething. Those damn leeches would pay for even thinking about doing something like this to me. I would get my revenge.

Leah carried me into her home and set me on her couch. My legs were weak, my ribs protested whenever I moved an inch, and my head was throbbing.

I had cuts all over my arms and legs that were still bleeding.

She disappeared for a while and when she returned, she had some gauze and peroxide with her to clean my wounds.

"That stings." I whined.

She shot me a dark look and continued on as if I hadn't said anything.

She tried to wrap my ribs as well as she could, not knowing which ones were broken; we couldn't just go to a hospital to get x-rays. After she did all she could, she left.

This time, she didn't come back right away, but I was beyond caring. I was furious.

I had gotten away with it, almost, for ten years. Bella was no match to my strength, but I knew she could do some damage.

That was one thing she was right about, I was glad it was her and not Edward that had stayed behind that night.

I had it all planned for a while. I would wait until they all left, leaving Nessie behind; she would get angry that they ignored her and run straight into my arms, and we would run away together.

She was mine. I was her one true love, and Edward and Bella were on the way of my happiness.

After all they had done to me, Bella especially, they had the audacity to keep my imprint away from me.

But I knew Nessie wanted me. And I wanted what was rightfully mine. She'd been destined to be mine.

I had gotten a bit too drunk that night; it was the one thing I did wrong, and what gave me away. Nessie would have come with me if I had only waited to get what was mine after we were far away.

Now I knew she had protected me all this time. I knew she loved me, she had kept it all from her family to show me she wanted me.

I had to get her back. And get my revenge on her father. He had no right to hurt me.

All those leeches had to pay for what they did. Hiding my love away from me, keeping us apart because Edward had poisoned her mind against me.

I knew it was him that made her start to ignore me.

They were all so lenient with her. They let her go wherever she wanted, not even thinking how dangerous it all was, and how _I_ would feel without her in my sight.

She shouldn't be out there, she should be at home with me, protected.

So I formulated a new plan. I wanted her back.

I thought about going after Seth and Leah before looking for my love, but it would be too much trouble. Even though they had just stood there and watched as I was almost beaten to death.

Well, Leah brought me here, so I guess she did deserve to be forgiven.

Seth, on the other hand, did not. He looked at me like I was in the wrong and deserved what I got. He would would not get away from it.

It took another ten minutes for Leah to come back.

"Seth called. The Cullens are gone." She told me.

I just stared at her.

"What are you doing?" She asked after a few minutes.

"What are you talking about?" I could hardly move, how did she think I'd be able to do anything?

"I can see it in your eyes. You are planning something, and I can just tell it's something pretty stupid. And just so you know, it's not going to work."

"What? You think I'm going to let those bloodsuckers get away with beating me up for no reason? I'm going to get my revenge." I blurted out without thinking.

"Are you insane? Look at you, you can barely breathe and you want to go after them? Three against one? They're stronger and way more prepared. And they had good reason to do this, you know." She exclaimed.

"What?" I tried to sit up, but pain shot through my torso and I lay back down.

"I didn't do anything wrong." I said through clenched teeth.

"Please, Jacob," she sneered. "You just up and go to her house, try to have your way with her, and expect things to be perfectly normal?

"You know I'm not their biggest fan, but liking or not, they're family. Bella's my step-sister, making Nessie my niece. Right now, I don't care if they're vampires, witches or whatever. You hurt my family. And you can't even see it. You still think you were in the right."

I looked at her, dumbfounded.

"If you plan on doing anything to them, anything at all, don't let me know. If I so much as hear a whisper of what you're up to, I'll call Bella directly. And you better hope I don't catch up to you." She threatened.

"I didn't know you felt that way, Leah." I told her.

She was always so cold and annoying. I thought she was incapable of feeling love.

"You don't know many things about me, Jacob Black."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Charlie helped us so much after Dad died. He helped my mom, and he seemed to _like_ it. She was happy around him. And, if she were happy, so was I. No matter what. I grew used to the idea of being sisters with a vampire."

She didn't even call them bloodsuckers.

"We didn't get to know each other that much, but Bella is okay, and Nessie _was_ really sweet as a kid. They saw me as family, even though I didn't. Tonight I felt like repaying them."

I was angry.

"By letting them beat me up? What the hell, Leah?"

"As I said, you deserved it. You hurt a sweet, innocent girl. You didn't deserve her, you know. She was too much for you. I guess that was why you tried to hurt her like that."

Okay, she was driving me insane.

"Whatever, Leah. I'm going to try to sleep. Thanks for your concern, but I don't need you to feel obligated to help me. There's no need to stay here."

"First of all, it's my house, so yes, I do need to stay here. And I wanted to help you, Jacob." She huffed. "You really don't know me at all."

She stalked into her room, slamming the door shut so hard the whole house vibrated.

The next couple of days were difficult, but I was healing quite fast. I could barely feel the pain, and I could tell by tomorrow I would be able to phase.

My cuts were gone, and all that needed to heal were my ribs, so I was able to take a walk on the beach. Which brought back too many memories, and ended up being more hurtful than beneficial.

I had been deserted by my pack members, and knew I would have to deal with it all alone. If only I still had Embry and Quil with me. They would have had my back.

The next day, I was able to phase and run around the forest. I just shouldn't overdo it or else I would have to wait longer for what I had planned.

I reached Charlie's place without even noticing, and decided on staying around for a while.

"_So, how are things going in Vancouver?"_ I could hear Charlie ask someone on the phone.

I was too far away to listen to the reply, but I could hear Charlie's response.

"_I'm so glad you're adapting well, Ness. Are those Canadians treating you right?"_

I tuned out the rest of the conversation.

For so long they had kept it from me. I knew the Cullens had traveled all over the world for a long time, and had only just settled down somewhere.

No one would tell me which city they were in, I didn't even know if they were in the US.

But now I knew.

Vancouver, Canada.

I waited until I was sure no one had seen me before running back to La Push.

Now that I knew their location, finding them would be easy. Even though Vancouver was quite big, all I had to do was follow the stench.

It wouldn't be hard to figure out where they lived. They were pretty predictable after all.

So after waiting another day to make sure I was almost fully healed, I phased and ran towards my love.


	13. Chapter 12

_Hey guys... this chapter just came to me today, I wrote it in less than an hour... I kept getting ideas during work, lol. _

_So I thought I'd update, cause... well, just cause lol... _

_This chap is dedicated to all the Jacob haters... like me! =D Hope you like it!_

_**Edit: No longer able to get ideas during work, since I am now a teacher and my mind is always focused on the present. Too bad, though. **_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 12

RPOV

They should have been home by now. I missed them and I was scared something would happen while they were distracted.

They have been gone for four days.

Dad called every night to talk to Mom and I sometimes got lucky and talked to him as well, but it was still worrying.

Not knowing what was going on over there, but knowing something _would_ eventually happen was scary.

Mom was even worse than me. She was known for always worrying way too much, and even though she tried to hide it, I could tell. She was suffering, quite a lot.

I knew how much she missed my Dad. They usually tried to be together, so this past week was tough on her.

We were all in school at the moment. We wanted to maintain any level of normalcy we could, and the boys not being there was still news all over school.

The year had just started, and they were skipping classes was the most common thing we'd hear.

I didn't care about any of it, just wanting them home already.

The first bell rang, and we made our way to English. Sara got there a minute later, looking over the class before her eyes landed on me.

"Are they back?"

I just shook my head at her question.

The story we had spread around was that the boys had to go back to their campsite because they had this inkling they had forgotten something important, which turned out to be their tent and food.

But as they were coming back, the weather took a change to the worse and they were stuck in some city hundred of miles away with no way of coming back until the storm stopped.

"Do you have any idea of when they can come back?"

I sighed, shaking my head. I wasn't sure if they would be here today or not. It was Friday already, and still no sign they were leaving Forks.

"Hey, Ness?" Sara called me once the class was over.

I looked at her as we got up, letting her know silently that I was listening.

"Would you like to do something today? Maybe go to the park or something? It's Friday. You could ask Nick to go with us." She suggested.

She knew I had a bit of a crush on Nick and that we had been talking quite a lot lately. I really enjoyed his company, he was quite funny and smart, so our conversations just made me like him even more.

And he kind of took Sara under his wing, not letting people start any sort of rumors about her. She was the easy target, unfortunately.

She wasn't poor but didn't have money to just throw away like most girls in this school. She was smart and a bit geeky, so they labeled her a nerd and would tease her relentlessly.

I would come up to her defense every time, but she said she was used to it. She had gone to school with most of those people for her whole life, and they would never change.

It didn't stop me from trying to protect her whenever I could, though.

"Sure, that would be fun." I replied. "I'll give Esme a call during lunch." I told her, already knowing it would be just fine if I wanted to stay away for a while.

"Awesome. It'll be good for you, you know. Just leave the house for a while, clear that mind of yours." She smiled as she winked at me.

She truly was the best friend one could have.

During lunch we all sat together along with Sara. It would be no problem that she noticed we weren't eating anything.

We hadn't bothered buying any food this past week, claiming we missed everyone and didn't feel like eating. She didn't even blink when we said that.

I was still feeling down and, as childish as it may seem, I went straight to my mother and sat on her lap, curling up on her and resting my head on her shoulder while everyone talked.

I had this weird feeling something would happen today.

I even asked Alice if she'd seen anything, but she said no. She looked but didn't see anything wrong, just that the guys were on their way back. I let out a sigh of relief at that.

My family was used to seeing me and Mom in this position, so they weren't bothered by it at all. But it seemed some people were.

I could hear some girls a few table down whispering to each other that I was such a baby for clinging to my sister like that, and that I should just grow up and get over it.

I knew Mom had heard it too when I felt her hold on me tighten. I didn't care about what some shallow girls were saying. Right now I needed comfort and I was seeking it. It showed I was not afraid to let my feelings known.

Mom kept making patterns on my back with her fingers, knowing exactly how to soothe my nerves. Sometimes she would run her hand through my hair, and it was making me sleepy.

I forced myself to pay attention when I heard Sara's voice call my name.

"You are coming, right, Ness?"

"Coming where?" I heard Rose ask.

Sara blushed a little, Rose usually didn't talk to her, or at all.

"To the park with Nick and me. It'll do her good to leave the house for a while, keep her minds off things." She smiled at me a bit.

"I think I'll go. Can you let Esme know, Bella?" I asked my mom, kind of asking her permission without blurting the words.

"Of course, sweetie." She said.

I grabbed an apple from Sara's tray, and bit into it. I wasn't really hungry, but I felt the need to occupy myself with something.

"Great. We'll go right after class, then." She let me know.

We spent the rest of lunch just talking nonsense. I could see my mom and aunts looking at their clock obsessively every two minutes, knowing their husbands would be home soon.

When the bell rang, I walked alongside Sara to our Calc class.

I could see Nick was already there.

We usually didn't seat together during lunch. I took turns inviting Sara to seat with us and seating with her on our own table.

She couldn't always be with my whole family, or else she would notice their lack of appetite.

I took my seat next to him, and Sara sat in front of us. The place next to her remained vacant.

She turned around and asked him if he could drive us to the park. He had turned sixteen just before classes started, and had his license already.

He agreed, telling us to meet him at the parking lot after our last class.

He was waiting for us near his car when we came out of school. I had told my mom goodbye before we left, knowing I wouldn't see her until later.

She was the one person who knew what I was feeling at the moment, and let me be.

Despite all my pleading, most of the family was in fact hovering over me. I knew the moment I told them the truth that they would be protective, but I was hoping they would listen to me and leave me be, like my mother and aunt Alice were doing.

Both of them were the only ones who weren't constantly asking if I needed anything, if I wanted to lie down, if I weren't better if I didn't go to school for a while. Rosalie was the worst, she came close to forbidding me to come to school.

Mom had to remind her that it was my decision, and also that she and Edward were my parents, and not anyone else. I guess that was why Rose didn't stop me from going to the park.

We walked around the place for a while once we got there, until we found a somewhat secluded spot we could sit down and talk.

I couldn't remember when was the last time I laughed this hard. Nick was telling us about some of the things he would do as a kid to piss off his parents.

He was the youngest of three, and always wanted to hang around his brothers, who in turn didn't want him around; so he would do the craziest things to get their attention.

We lost track of time, and before we knew it, the sky was starting to darken. We should head home.

Nick let us know he would give us a ride so we wouldn't have to worry about waiting for the bus, so we slowly made our way towards the parking lot.

We had walked quite a bit, and the park wasn't small, so it took us about twenty minutes to reach his car.

Nick had just unlocked the doors when I froze.

'No,' I thought. 'It can't be.'

I could recognize this scent anywhere. It was ingrained in my mind, and not in a good way.

I started to look around, mostly likely looking like a lunatic to my friends, but I didn't care. He was around here somewhere.

I was too shocked to move properly. Just the thought of facing him again had me in tears. I was terrified.

I could make a run for it, going through the park. That wouldn't work, though. Unfortunately, Jacob had always been faster than me.

I unfroze after a moment, reaching into my bag to get my cell phone. I would call someone in the family.

Dad should be back by now, and he'd know what to do.

I wasn't fast enough, though, because as soon as I had the device in my hand, I felt something overly warm touching my shoulder.

"Nessie." Jacob almost sighed.

I started shaking so badly, I couldn't even hold the phone in my hand. It fell on the floor, the battery flying away from it.

I was still scared of him. No matter how much I wanted to be brave and move on, the reaction I had to him was worse than ever.

I shouldn't let him get to me like that. He was the one who was wrong, not me. I couldn't let him run my life anymore.

"Leave me alone, Jacob." I said in a voice that came our firmer than I expected. My whole body was shaking and I was sweating cold, but could still appear brave somehow. "And don't call me Nessie. You have no right."

He turned me around, finally making me face him. He looked enraged.

"You're mine." He whispered so my friends wouldn't hear him. "I'll call you whatever I want. Let's talk." He ordered, grabbing the same wrist he had broken ten years ago.

I noticed from the corner of my eyes that both Sara and Nick were approaching us, not knowing what was going on or what to do.

"I have nothing to say to you. Let me go." I said, punctuating every word.

"I said we'll talk, and that's what we'll do."

He was furious.

Before anyone could react, he threw me over his shoulder and ran to the woods. Once he seemed satisfied there would be no interruptions, he let me go, dropping me unceremoniously on the floor.

My body wouldn't stop convulsing from fear. I could barely move, and my eyes were clouded by tears. What would he do to me this time?

He knelt down next to me, looking at me adoringly. It baffled me just how quickly his emotions would change. He was truly unstable.

"Now will you hear me out?" He said in a patiently, sickly sweet voice. He reached over to tuck my hair behind my ear, but I moved away.

I did not want his hands anywhere near me.

"Why should I?" I asked.

I had to toughen up a bit or else he would do worse than last time. And I would not be a victim again.

"I love you, Nessie. Why can't you see that? We were meant to be, but you act as if you're scared of me. Why?"

He truly was insane. Delusional.

"I told you not to call me that. And you have to ask why I'm scared of you? You hurt me, Jacob."

He looked at me weirdly, as if he didn't understand what I was saying.

"I didn't mean to leave you like that, Nessie. But your father wouldn't let you see me, and I had to do something. I promise we can be together now." He said in that same sickly sweet voice.

"What are you talking about?" I blurted out. "It was my decision to ignore you. And you physically hurt me. What, can't remember? If it weren't for my mother, I'd be dead." I told him truthfully.

He kept shaking his head.

"No. Your father kept us apart. He didn't want to see you falling in love, so he kept you from me. He was the one that made me try to take you away. We would be far away by now, living our happily ever after, our children running around the house while you took care of us."

He had this faraway look, like he was seeing exactly what he was talking about.

"I'm not in love with you, Jacob. I hate you." I spat out. "I was never yours and I will never be. Why can't you get it through your thick head?"

"You are mine! I was always there for you, I loved you." He yelled.

"No, you weren't and no, you didn't. You were around just because of some supernatural force you couldn't stop. And since we're talking about the past, I know you forcefully kissed my mother. You loved her, the same way you love me? Is that it?" I said sarcastically.

I could tell I had hit a nerve, though.

"She liked it. She even asked me for another one later." He sounded smug, and I couldn't help but snort.

"First of all, she punched you. Wasn't that enough? And when she asked you, it was because you played with her fears. You knew she would do it if you made it seem like you would kill yourself if she didn't.

"Did you actually believe she loved you? That she would give up on my father, the one person she's always loved, to be with an immature, manipulator guy like you? And here I thought you had just started to go mental." I was angry now.

"You are aware that she never loved you like you wanted her to, right? She felt sorry for you, she liked you as a brother, but she never loved you. You told her you'd rather see her dead than a vampire." Dad had told me this a few years ago.

"And then you claim you love her? You tried to rape me, and still claims you did nothing wrong. That's not how it works, Jacob."

I was making him angry. Furious even, but I didn't care, I wanted it all out now.

"Mom thought of you as her best friend, until the day you decided you wanted her more than that. You made her uncomfortable.

"You made me feel unwanted and unloved. You hurt us both so much, but you're not even worth the fight anymore."

I wanted him to know what it felt like to be told you were worthless.

It still made me self-conscious when anyone looked at me. Because of a few words he uttered as he hurt me, I could no longer be the confident girl I once was. He had broken me that day, and I was just now starting to heal.

I would not let him ruin me again.

My speech, though, made him shake in anger. I could see he was containing himself not to phase.

He was seething, and after a few moments buffing and staring me down, he lunged at me.

I was more prepared this time. My dad had made sure I knew how to defend myself after what happened; he and my uncles taught me a lot.

As he came onto me, I hit him with as much force as I could.

Unfortunately, in doing so I managed to hurt my wrist once again. Being half-human had its disadvantages.

He saw my moment of weakness and jumped on me once again, restraining my arms and legs with his body. All I could do was scream and trash around, trying to make him let me go, but he wouldn't budge.

It all felt like a really bad déjà vu.

Since my hands were restrained, I did the next best thing I could. I bit his arm as hard as I could, knowing I had no venom to kill him.

It didn't have the effect I wanted though. Even as he roared in pain and anger, he pulled up his other arm and struck me as hard as he could in the face.

I could feel myself falling into unconsciousness.

Before I was completely gone, though, I could swear I heard my parents' voices calling for me. But as I tried to make sure I wasn't delirious, I felt everything go black as I passed out.

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_let me know what you think... hit the button... you can do it! GO YOU!_


	14. Chapter 13

_Hellooo people! Another chap hot and ready to go! The response for my last chap was amaaazing, thank you guys. _

_This chapter was the result of three sleepless nights due to the crazy heat wave that hit my city. Couldn't sleep properly, so I wrote =P  
_

_For 'Curuia', who asked for a bigger chapter - this one is almost 3000 words, twice as big as I usually post. _

_This chap goes to: 'Zutara'z twilight', 'nicolehayes', 'cullen4evas', 'Kimmy Cullen', 'crazygrl2interesting', 'Curuia' and 'britxfluva' cause you guys rock with your reviews! Keep them coming. For everyone else that reviewed this story, thank you so much. I'll dedicate next chap for the best reviewers ;)_

_**Edit: Chapter still dedicated to the people above. =)**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 13

BPOV

I could see Renesmee and Sara walk towards Nick's car.

It would be good for her to go out for a while. I knew I wasn't fooling her with my calm façade, and she was starting to get as worried as I was.

I did have a feeling something was going to happen, though. Alice told me she didn't see anything, and that I should be more in tune with my daughter because she'd said the same thing not three hours before.

We got home in no time, and before I could even leave the car, I heard the most sweet sound near my ear.

"Bella." Edward sighed my name, pulling me from inside the car straight into his arms.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, needing to be as close to him as I could.

"I missed you," I whispered to him.

We just stared at each other for a while, memorizing each other all over again.

Then he leaned forward and captured my lips in a sweet kiss, which progressively grew in passion, and I swore to myself I would not let him out of my sight for so long like that ever again.

He ran us to our room, lying me in bed before leaning over and resuming the kissing. We lay in bed for a while, just needing to be near each other.

He sat up after a while, and I rested my head on his lap looking up at him, always craving some sort of contact.

"How was it?" I almost whispered, not really wanting to break the comfortable silence we were in.

"Well, we thought he'd learned his lesson. We had Leah and Seth on our side as well, which was truly surprising. Leah, especially, shocked me." He talked as he ran his hand through my hair and face.

"How come?" I asked.

"It seems she now considers you guys family." He told me.

"Really? Wow, you'd never think that after everything."

"I know. But it's true." He laughed a little. It felt so good to hear it.

"And Jacob?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"Leah took him away to care for his wounds. She let us know she knew he was up to something, but she didn't know what. I could hear his thoughts that one time, as I told you. He knows how my gift works, I couldn't hear him after that, not when he was in La Push. Too far away. We traced his scent around the forest, but it could have been weeks old.

"I don't know where he is right now." He told me, truthfully.

That made me panic. Jacob was extremely volatile and could do anything to get what he wanted.

"Try not to worry, Bella. I'll be here to protect you all." He leaned down to kiss my forehead. He could sense my desperation. "Just calm down. It'll be okay." He said, reassuringly.

His touch was feather-like as he traced my face, knowing the simple contact would calm me down almost immediately.

I had missed him so much; his touch, his scent, his laugh. I was so glad he was back home with me.

"Bella?" Edward asked.

"Yes, Edward?" I looked up to him.

"Where's Nessie?" He asked, rather worried.

I smiled at him.

"You only remember her now?" I asked teasingly.

"She's out with some friends from school. She was so worried this week, her friend took her to the park to get her mind out of things. They should be back later." I told him.

He smiled that crooked smile of his, and I melted. I motioned for him to lean down and kissed him fiercely.

"I love you," I told him.

"I love you, too, Bella. Forever."

We stood there, just enjoying being in each others' arms, when we heard a car approach and the doorbell ring.

We got up when we heard Sara talk to Esme, rather panicked.

"I.. I, he…" She was crying so much.

I ran as fast as I could in human speed and hugged her to me. She was sobbing so hard she couldn't even breathe properly, let alone talk.

So I guided her to the couch and sat down with her. I could feel Jasper trying to help calm her down, but it wasn't working. She was too distressed.

Nick finally showed up, looking rather shocked himself, but calm enough to explain. Edward was already in the garage, getting everything ready. He knew what was going on, but couldn't tell us in front of humans.

"We were walking back to my car, I told them I'd give them a ride, and suddenly Nessie just froze. Out of nowhere this huge dude walks up to her and touches her, and she started shaking so badly.

"He took her away. He threw her over his shoulder and ran into the woods. It was all so fast, and there wasn't much we could do. Your house's not that far away, and we came straight here. We just couldn't call anyone. I have no idea how I even drove here." He told us.

I noticed his hands were shaking, and was really glad they had made it here okay.

"Did she say his name?" Edward asked, back from the garage.

"Jacob, I think." I froze.

Not again.

"No!" I yelled, startling everyone. "Not again, please, no." I cried. Edward came to me and held me tight.

"Shhh, love, we'll find her. Calm down."

I couldn't calm down. That _dog_ had already ruined her life, what more did he want?

Suddenly, I snapped back. My daughter was somewhere with that vile person, and I was here wasting our time crying?

"What are we still doing here? We have to find her." I said, not caring about the humans, still in shock, that were there as well.

Everyone started getting ready to leave, except Nick and Sara.

"Thank you for letting us know. You can stay here with Esme if you'd like. If not, we'll call you as soon as we find her, okay?" They nodded, but decided on staying for a while.

Sara was still in shock, she couldn't think properly and Esme would be able to take care of her. Sara looked at me and mouthed 'sorry'.

I hugged her once again and told her it was not her fault. I promised to explain it to her when we got back.

She nodded, and went straight into Esme's arms, seeking the comfort only Esme could give her.

We piled up in two cars and drove to the park. We split in groups, and Edward, Alice and I went north, while Jasper and Rose went south.

Carlisle and Emmett decided on going west.

We tried to follow his scent, but got nothing. We ran all over the place, trying to get just a glimpse of the smell, but no luck.

It'd been about thirty minutes since she was taken, and I was starting to panic.

Alice kept trying to see where she could be, but with no luck. She couldn't see Jacob, and right now we couldn't rely just on her.

Though she was having a vision at the moment, and Edward and I were hoping it would lead us somewhere.

"I saw us going through here," she said, and pointed to a general direction, "and suddenly our future disappeared."

We took off before she could even finish the sentence.

A few minutes later, we could smell both scents, and hear their voices.

Suddenly there was some yelling, and then silence.

I forced myself to go faster, calling out her name along with Edward and Alice.

We reached a small clearing just in time to see my baby close her eyes. Edward ran straight onto Jacob, knocking him down. He threw in a punch, and Jacob fell down.

I went to my daughter, lifting her head gently so I could rest it on my legs, caressing her face and murmuring my apologies over and over. I should have trusted my instincts; the feeling I had this morning coming to mind.

I heard Alice call the others, but my focus was on my daughter and husband. Edward had restrained Jacob, waiting for the rest of the family to show up so they could see what to do with him.

Not a minute after the call was over, they all showed up. Carlisle ran straight to where I was with Nessie, and checked her over.

"Broken wrist," 'not again', I thought, "and she's unconscious, but shall be coming around soon." I nodded.

"He punched her quite hard. Her face is a bit swollen." He explained.

"You might want to keep you hand over the bruise, the cold will definitely help her."

I immediately placed my hand over the still-red bruise in her face, doing all I could to help her get better.

Once he was done assessing all her injuries, he left us so he could deal with Jacob.

Alice knelt down next to me, her face ridden with worry.

"I can't see anything." She whispered.

Being blind always made her feel vulnerable.

I hugged her to me, making sure I kept my hand exactly where it was. We just sat there, watching the fight unfold.

Jacob was almost unconscious. I could see the rage in Edward's eyes. He was avenging his daughter once again.

We could all hear Jacob's mumbled pleas, but they were silenced soon after as he fell unconscious.

I just couldn't believe he hurt her again. My baby. I wanted to join them and kill Jacob myself, but I wasn't going to leave her alone, no matter what.

I could tell they all wanted to kill him, but they knew Carlisle wouldn't let them. They crowded over his unconscious form, waiting to see if he would come around soon.

I just watched them, still in shock.

As they debated over what to do with him (the options were dump him on the highway or drag him all the way back to La Push), I heard the distinct sound of a wolf running.

A few minutes later, the smell followed and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

Leah phased and put on her clothes before anyone else could notice her.

"No," she screamed. "Please." She pleaded.

She was next to them in no time. "Don't kill him, please." She was crying.

Everyone just stared, not sure of what to do. They let her through and she knelt beside him.

"You stupid fool, why did you have to come here? I asked you not to do anything stupid. I told you, you didn't deserve her. Why can't you see that?"

She was talking to him, even though she knew he was not awake.

"You can't see what's right in front of you, can you? Why? Why did I have to fall in love with such an idiot?" She was ranting.

I got up, carrying my still unconscious daughter, and walked to where they all were. I handed Nessie to Edward, and knelt next to Leah.

She didn't even flinch.

"Leah," I started, "thank you." She looked up at me, with a puzzled expression.

"Edward told me what you did for us. And I know we never got along that well, but I'm glad you're here now." I told her, sincerely.

She nodded once, and the tears started falling again.

I hugged her, ignoring the smell, and tried to comfort her. She hugged me back, and whispered, 'thank you'.

We both got up, and she started to carry Jacob away. She looked back to all of us.

"I'm sorry. I should have known he would try something like that. I'll keep him away, I promise."

I looked at her and said, "It's not your fault, Leah. And thank you."

She nodded and went back into the woods.

I ran to Edward and took Nessie from him. I just needed to be close to her.

"We should head home." Carlisle spoke up. "Nessie will be coming around soon, it'll be better if she's not here." We all nodded and ran back to our cars.

We got home a few minutes later, and found Esme and Sara waiting by the front door. Nick had apparently gone home.

Esme came to me and hugged me and Ness, who I was still carrying and kissed both our foreheads.

"She's okay, Mom. She's going to be okay." I didn't know who I was reassuring, her or myself.

Sara looked at us, relieved.

"Where did you find her? What happened?" She asked.

"Let's go inside and I'll tell you." She nodded. I went straight to Nessie's room, still carrying her.

I didn't care that it looked strange, the way I could carry her without even breaking a sweat.

Edward and Sara followed. I put her onto her bed, and lay down beside her. Edward sat down by my side and Sara took the chair.

"So…" Sara started.

I looked at her, then Edward, and took a deep breath.

"A few years ago, Jacob broke into our home. He hurt her pretty badly then. She had to stay on bed rest for almost a month." I told her.

"He's violent and deranged. And from what we heard, also delusional."

"He tried to rape her," Edward said what I couldn't.

Sara was shocked, her mouth fell open.

"No," she whispered. "Why?"

"He thinks she belongs to him. He loves her, he's obsessed with her and wants her to love him back. But she just doesn't. He must have planned it for a long time, he waited until he knew she'd be alone. He didn't count on my being in the next room." I told her.

"Why would someone hurt such a sweet girl?" She asked rhetorically.

We just shrugged, wondering the same thing ourselves.

"I should go home." She said after a few minutes of silence.

I nodded, not sure if it would be best if she stayed the night.

I preferred to play safe and let her go home.

"Edward, do you think Esme would be willing to give Sara a ride?" I asked, knowing Esme would be able to hear.

"I'm sure she would." He replied, letting me know Esme had heard us and was getting the car ready.

Sara walked over to where her friend was, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry." I could hear her apologize, and had in inkling on why.

We would have to make sure she knew it was not her fault. He would have found her anywhere.

"Let me know how she's doing, please." I just nodded and she left.

A few minutes later, Nessie started coming around.

"Mom?" She whispered, but she didn't wake up. "Dad?"

"Shhh, it's okay, baby, we got you." I say, soothingly.

"Carlisle?" I heard Edward call him.

He was there in a few seconds. He looked her over, and gently examined her wrist. Once he was done, he looked at us.

"I'll just put her wrist on a brace, there is no need to cast it. And she'll be fully recovered in a few days. Her face will be bruised for a while, though." I sighed, relieved.

Carlisle left after putting the brace on her.

She started to whimper.

"Momma, make it stop, don't let him hurt me." She seemed to be having a nightmare. We tried to wake her up, but nothing was working.

"Ness, baby, wake up. Wake up." I said gently.

She suddenly woke up with a start and seemed disoriented. Then she started crying.

"It's okay, it's over," Edward told her. "He's not coming back."

I held her tight to me, not wanting to let her go.

She just kept crying, not saying a word. Eventually, she calmed down a little, so we could talk.

"May, baby, please tell us what happened?" I pleaded.

"I can't, Momma." She said, curling herself closer to me.

Edward went to her other side and started making soothing motions on her back, to calm her down.

"Can you show us? Ness, please, baby. I can't stand to see you like this." She looked up at me, face filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"For what?" I asked her.

"For letting him do this to me." She started crying again.

"It's not your fault." Edward reassured her.

"May, he's the only one at fault here, not you," I said gently, "please, show us what happened?" She nodded again, and touched both mine and Edward's hands.

She showed everything, from the moment he arrived, until she fell unconscious. I was horrified, but also glad to see that she had defended herself.

"I'm proud of you, May," I told her. "You did your best to defend yourself. I'm just glad we found you when we did."

"Me, too, Momma." She replied.

"Sleep now, baby. We'll be here when you wake up." Edward told her.

She fell asleep in a second. The family kept coming to check on her, Rose especially. She just sat down on the chair by the desk and stayed there for a while.

Edward and I watched her dreams, but her head was blank. She was so drained emotionally that she didn't have the strength to dream.

She woke up screaming, though. I held her to me, and tried to calm her down. I was suddenly glad it was Saturday. We stayed in bed the whole day.

Sara came over in the afternoon, and Nessie tried to keep a conversation with her, but it was hard.

She was still healing, her face was better (I still couldn't believe Jacob punched her on her face), the swelling was down to almost nothing, a bruise on her cheek the only evidence of the punch.

Sara left after a few hours, also feeling better from knowing Nessie would be fine.

Sunday was spent the same way. No one came to bother us. Sometimes the family would check up on her, but otherwise we were left alone.

When Monday morning came, though, Nessie started panicking.

"Good morning, baby." I greeted her.

"Morning, Mom." She said.

"Let's get up. We have to get ready for school."

"School?" She asked, fearfully.

"We have to go, Ness. The sooner we go back to normal, the better. Remember, the whole family knows this time. They'll be hovering over you nonstop from now on, if you don't show them that you're getting better." I told her.

I knew she would hate it if they started doing that, but also knew it was inevitable.

"You're right, I guess. I'll give it a try."

I kissed her forehead and got up to get ready for school. Edward had left a few minutes before she woke up to give us some privacy, knowing we would need to have this talk.

We all went to school this time. Nessie was clinging to my hand, just like she did on our first day. Maybe bringing her wasn't such a good idea.

"Ready?" She only looked at me and nodded.

It was time to go back to reality.

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_Towards the end, I was writing while listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. Not a good combo, I was almost crying... gee... I hope you guys feel it as well =P_


	15. Chapter 14

_Hey! New chapter up... I hope you like it =D_

_'Curuia' - best review ever! The music I'm listening to while writing usually influences the chapter. Like this one, I was listening to happy, weird songs, like She & Him and some others lol. That's why the chapter is kind of upbeat =P I hope I made the chapter justice.  
_

_'SkewyPetal' - THANK YOU! You don't know this yet, but you sort of inspired half this chapter with your review LOL As asked, Edward/Nessie moments. (I read your review and TADA, idea so thanks lol)_

_This chapter is dedicated to the both of you =D_

_**Edit: The music still influences the way I write =)**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Chapter 14

RPOV

We walked inside the building and suddenly, everyone was staring at us.

"_But she's fine."_

"_What happened, do you know?" _

"_She's not even hurt?"_

I could hear what everyone was saying.

How did they know something had happened to me on Friday? Did Nick spread all this?

I knew it wouldn't be Sara, I trust her with my life. But unfortunately we had just started to get to know Nick, so I didn't fully trust him yet.

All the whispering was making me feel overwhelmed. Did I do the right decision by coming to class today?

"Nessie," Sara called out once we got into the classroom. "I'm so glad to see you up." She whispered so no one else would hear while putting me in a gentle hug.

"Yeah, me too. I just couldn't stay another day inside that room." I told her.

"I am so glad you're better. I'm so sorry I left you there." She apologized.

I think she did that on Saturday as well, but I couldn't remember.

"It was not your fault. There was no way you'd be able to stop him, trust me."

She noticed that people kept staring at us, which was making both of us truly uncomfortable.

"How do you think they know?" I asked Sara.

She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing the answer.

"No idea. Not from me, I'm sure of that." She smiled a little. I tried to return it but it came out as a grimace.

The staring was getting to me; I wasn't feeling very well. Also, my wrist was hurting a bit and my face was throbbing.

Grandpa tried to give me some medicine the last time, but they burnt through my system too fast.

The class started then, and I thought people would go back to minding their own business, but I could still hear them whispering about me.

I couldn't take it anymore and we weren't even halfway through class. I grabbed my mother's attention as quietly as I could and discreetly made a motion for her to grab my hand.

I showed her I couldn't stay any longer, and I could see her nodding from the corner of my eyes. She released my hand and raised hers.

"Yes, miss Swan?" The teacher stopped her lecture.

"Mrs. Steveson, my sister isn't feeling very well. May I accompany her to the front office and call our father to pick her up?"

The teacher took a look at me and readily agreed. I must really look horrible, then.

She got up and helped me pack my stuff. It was a good thing she did, because my whole arm was now throbbing painfully and I could barely move it.

"Your father will take you home. I let him know you weren't feeling well, but we'll have to call Esme so she can let you leave." I nodded.

"I'm so sorry I made you come to school." She apologized just as we reached the front office.

"It's okay. It was my decision, too. I just had no idea everyone would be talking about it. It made me feel overwhelmed." I told her the truth. I didn't want her to feel guilty about it.

She kept her arm around my shoulders, letting me rest my head on the crook of her neck. I positioned my face so my bruise was directly touching her skin so the cold could soothe my pain.

She had the secretary call Esme and let her know me and Dad would be leaving, and grandma quickly gave her permission.

Just a few minutes after the call, Dad showed up with his backpack in hand. He grabbed mine as well and sat down next to me, Mom still on my other side.

"What's wrong, baby?" He whispered, brushing some hair out of my face.

"She's feeling a bit overwhelmed." Mom replied for me. "And she's in pain. Could you please take her to eat something?" She asked, pleading with my dad to take me hunting.

"Yes, of course. C'mon, Ness."

I pecked Mom on her cheek, silently thanking her and letting her know I'd be fine.

Dad helped me up and I adjusted myself so I could keep my face near his skin. It was harder to reach his neck because he was quite a bit taller than me and mom.

Mom told us she'd find out who spread all those rumors and she'd let me know once they got home.

I nodded as Dad half-dragged me to the car. After helping me in and getting behind the wheel, he looked at me.

"Do you want to go home, or do something?"

"I don't care, Daddy. Take me wherever. Anywhere but here."

"Let's do what your mother said. You need to hunt anyways and the blood will help a bit with the pain." He smiled slightly, but it didn't reach his eyes.

I looked at him and nodded. He drove until we found a good spot, somewhere in a city nearby. We got out of the car and my dad smiled at me, sheepishly.

"Race ya." And he took off.

I laughed and went after him. He sure knew how to improve my mood.

He was too fast for me, but I caught up to him once he slowed down a little. We both stopped and smelled the air, trying to find our prey.

It took me a bit longer to get done since he had the experience on his side. I was just glad I could finally hunt without getting blood all over me.

After we were done, we found a peaceful clearing to relax. Hunting with my Daddy was always fun, but tiring at the same time.

We sat in blissful silence for a while, until he broke it.

"So, what exactly happened today, sweet girl?"

I just shrugged. Everything? Nothing? I didn't know if it was just all in my head, or if I really was that sick.

"Okay, was it too soon to go back to school?" He asked.

I shook my head, I knew the answer to that one.

"No, everything was okay, but everyone knew. I don't know how, but they were all staring. I felt overwhelmed. I didn't know what to do."

"I could hear some of it in their thoughts. I couldn't tell who started the rumor, though. Maybe your mother will find out.

"They all thought you had been kidnapped, or killed, or something similar. I could tell some of them wanted it to be true." He said through clenched teeth.

"I never talked to any of them, why would they want me dead?" I asked in return. It wasn't like I provoked anyone.

"You're beautiful, my child, inside and out. You don't instill as much fear in them as we do. When we first started, you went straight to the reject, the outcast. That, in their mind, was outrageous."

"I don't care. She's my best friend." I told him.

He smiled at me, more genuinely this time.

"I know that, and I'm glad it is her. Her mind kind of reminds me of one of our friends from Forks High, Angela. She was the only one, among them all, that actually cared about Bella and not her reputation." He smiled again.

I smiled back.

"That's good, Daddy." I told him.

"Yes, everyone else was just jealous. Just like everyone in this school. They envy our beauty, money and intelligence."

I nodded. I went to get up so I could sit closer to him, but stopped when I supported my weight on my broken wrist.

I gasped loudly, not able to stop myself, and Dad was next to me in an instant.

"Does it hurt much?" He asked as he gently grabbed my wrist, putting it on his lap. He covered it with both his hands, and the cold soothed most of the pain almost immediately.

"Thanks," I sighed in relief. "That feels good." I told him.

"You should have just stayed home. I don't know why I let Bella take you to school, you should be home, safe." The over protectiveness started.

"Dad, it's not her fault. I said I was okay to go, and I was. I didn't expect to feel so weird with all the whispers and everything. I didn't think they'd know."

"No matter, I'm not letting you go back until I'm absolutely positive that you won't get hurt."

I sighed, not liking where this was going.

"Daddy, please. Don't go all overprotective on me, please? You know that was why I didn't tell you when it happened back then. I knew you'd be like this, and look at you now, trying to control my life.

"Please, please, dad, let me live my life without the hovering. Please?" I started crying. It felt good that my dad cared that much for me, but I really wanted to get my life back on track.

He wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to him, and held me there while I cried.

"I'm sorry, love. I just hate to see you hurt."

I nodded.

"I know, daddy." I stopped crying, but stayed in the same position, with my head on his shoulder, and took a deep breath, inhaling his unique scent.

It always calmed me down, whenever I was upset.

"I just don't know why this had to happen to me. Why me? Did I do something so horrible to deserve this?"

He hugged me tighter.

"Of course, not. Baby, you did nothing wrong, okay. You are so much like your mother, you know. You try to make everyone feel good, even if you're not.

"You care too much about others, and forget that sometimes, you have to take care of yourself as well. You have to stop worrying so much. You're such a wonderful, sweet, caring, beautiful girl. You did nothing wrong, got it?"

"You're only saying that because I'm your daughter, and it's like in the father's book to say so." I smiled a bit, trying to lighten the mood.

He looked at me, smiling back.

"Maybe," he winked, laughing as I frowned.

"Baby girl, it's what I see. You have such a pure heart, I really don't know why someone would try to hurt you. You did not deserve all that has happened to you."

I leaned into him again, and whispered, "thank you, daddy."

He had a way with words that always made me feel better.

He hugged me closer. I was feeling a lot better now, the pain on my wrist barely noticeable. My face was also no longer hurting, and the swelling had gone down considerably.

"Better?"

I nodded and said, "Much." He laughed a little.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Can you tell me something?" I asked him.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Can you tell me more about you and mom?" I knew parts and bits, but still would like to hear the whole story.

I had never really asked outright for it, so I had to piece together what they did tell me.

He smiled at me and nodded.

"How did you meet? How did you know it was her? I mean, the love of your life and all that?"

He mused a little before answering.

"First, I was _very_ intrigued. I couldn't hear her thoughts, and she smelled delicious," I laughed a little. "When I first saw her, her scent was so deliciously overwhelming, I couldn't help but glare at her throughout the whole class.

"She had thought I hated her, and she tried to inconspicuously check the smell of her hair, but I noticed anyways. It wasn't that she smelled bad, quite the opposite actually."

"Did you hate her?" I wondered.

"Yes, for a while. She came out of nowhere and disrupted our lives. She made the monster in me come out stronger than ever, and I wanted her gone. But I mostly hated myself for almost losing control.

"One day she was almost crushed by a van. I couldn't just watch her get killed, I had to do something. So I stopped the van with my hands. She grew very suspicious after that, but I kept insisting she had hit her head and didn't know what had truly happened."

My eyes were wide open.

"She almost died?" I asked, surprised.

He laughed a little before answering.

"Your mother was a danger magnet. She almost died a lot of times. One day not that long after she went to Port Angeles with some friends, and she was almost attacked."

"Like me?" I asked in a small voice. I didn't like to think about it, and didn't want to think it almost happened to my mother as well.

"Yes, almost like that. I had actually followed her there, and was able to get to her in time, though. I used the excuse of shock to get her to stay with me a little longer. She had dinner and when we were going back home she let me know she knew what I was.

"She said she didn't care about it. At first I was so mad, she had knowingly put herself in danger whenever she was around me and all she could say was that she didn't care." He said.

I smiled, liking how she never gave up on him.

"Soon after that I took her to our meadow and showed myself in the sun. She told me I was beautiful." He chuckled, most likely remembering it all. "That was the day I told her I loved her."

"That was when you realized you loved each other?" I asked.

He nodded.

"But I only found out I couldn't live without her when I left her." He told me.

"Why did you leave?" I asked him, having always wondered that.

"I thought I was putting her life in danger by being with her, but it turned out that wasn't the case. One day she decided to go _cliff diving_ and Alice thought Bella had killed herself. I went to Italy to have the Volturi kill me.

"But it turned out Bella wasn't dead, and she and Alice went to Italy to stop me. She got to me just in time and that was when I vowed to _never_ leave Bella ever again."

"That's beautiful, Daddy." I said, sincerely. "I wish I could find someone that loves me just like you and mom love each other."

The unending love they had for each other was what gave me hope that one day I could find someone like that for me.

"You will, baby. Just give it time. I waited almost a hundred years, I'm sure you'll find someone someday." He smiled.

We sat in silence, both lost in thoughts of the past, when I remembered to ask him something else.

"Daddy?" I started.

"Yes, Renesmee?"

"Can you promise me something?" I asked, hoping he would.

"It depends on what."

"Promise me you won't become your usual overprotective parent? And I promise I'll let you know if I'm hurting or if it's too much. Please? I'll really, really love you if you do that."

He laughed.

"You know I can't promise that." I was about to interrupt, "but I'll try okay? It's just hard for me, seeing my little girl hurting. I just want to protect you from everything, even though I know I can't."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry you're hurting."

He ignored my apologies and kissed my forehead.

"I love you."

"Love you, too, Daddy. And thank you."

"For what?"

I looked at him.

"For letting me be. I knew you'd try to make me feel better, but I'm glad you let me get it all out. Thank you."

"You know I'd do anything for you, love. Anything." He sighed, "I'm afraid we should get going. The family will start to worry. We'll probably give your mom a heart attack."

I laughed out loud at that. Even though she _couldn't_ have a heart attack, she worried so much that, well, let's just say a heart attack would be nothing.

We got up, and I looked at him, mischievously. He caught my look.

"What now?" He asked.

I smiled.

"Can I have a piggyback ride?" He laughed and turned his back to me, saying 'hop up'. I did, and he took off.

He started running, zigzagging the trees. We laughed the whole way to the car. It felt refreshing.

When we got to the car, I kissed his cheek and said, 'thanks'.

We drove home, and when we got there, he opened the car door for me, and told me to hop up again, just for the fun of it.

I laughed from the feeble excuse he got, but got onto his back, and laughed when he spun us around as if I were a little kid again.

I rested my head on his shoulder, holding my hands around his neck, while he walked to the front door.

Everyone was waiting for us in the living room. We were still laughing, with no reason this time, and I saw my mom smile, relieved.

I looked at her, and just like a little kid, waved at her.

"Hi, Momma!" And laughed again.

She looked at me with her beautiful smile.

"Well, seems like you're feeling better."

I nodded.

"Thanks to my daddy." Before I finished the sentence, my dad took me out of his back and started tickling me.

I laughed, getting slightly out of breath. I tried to tell him to stop, but only more laughter came. I was lying on the floor now, while he tickled me.

"What do you say, Ness?" He asked.

We used to have a code for him to stop tickling me, but haven't used it in years.

"Oh, father, please stop!" I said, not bothering to tell him the code word.

He smiled, but didn't stop.

"Not before you say it." He told me.

I was laughing so hard, I could hardly get any word out.

"Alright, alright!" I smiled at him, and whispered, "toodles."

He laughed, but stopped it. It was kind of embarrassing, the whole secret word thing, but it was our thing and I didn't want to give it up.

He helped me up, and I looked around. My eyes stopped at one person I saw, coming out of the kitchen…

Sara.

She had heard the whole thing. No one even considered _thinking_ about her when we got home, everyone was too distracted with me and dad.

Even _he_ was too distracted to think about listening to her thoughts.

She looked at me, then mom, dad, and back to me.

Oh man, we were in deep trouble.


	16. Chapter 15

_Hey! Since I had such amazing reviews, and no work for the day, I decided to post a little earlier. Sara's reaction is probably nothing like you expected lol_

_One of the longest chapters, with 3100 words. WOW._

_'Curuia' - I was listening to Chopin, Debussy and Beethoven while writting this chapter LOL As I said, very random taste =P It's a calm chapter. Sort of lol..._

_**Edit: I still think Bella would not be the ONLY one to ever take notice that the Cullens are different. Really?**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 15

RPOV

Sara just kept staring. Her mouth was open, and she was frozen in place. I looked at her, and knew I'd have to tell her the truth.

Since I was close to my dad, I touched his hand so I could silently ask if I should tell her the whole truth.

He nodded his head, looking a little bit too relaxed for someone who had just helped unravel the family's deepest secret.

"Sara?" I asked, "Sara, please, look at me."

She seemed to have just snapped back from a trance. I slowly approached her.

"Please, don't be scared. Please, let me talk to you." I pleaded.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked.

"The whole truth, I promise. Please?" She nodded as I reached her. "Can we go for a walk?" She just nodded again.

"Okay."

I looked at everyone as they stared at me. For some reason they weren't nervous, as if they had planned this whole thing so I could tell my best friend what was going on in my life without having to lie.

"I'll let you know if we need anything."

They all nodded in response, and I walked away with Sara.

We went into the woods behind our house, going far away so my family wouldn't overhear us, but still near enough I could get to them quickly if anything happen.

"Did I hear you right? You called Edward 'Daddy'. And Bella 'Momma', right? I am not going crazy, am I?" She started.

"You're not going crazy." I reassured her. "I'm going to tell you everything now. I am so sick and tired of hiding it all from you. But you have to promise you'll hear me out first and then I'll answer all your questions." I begged her.

She nodded in agreement.

"Oh, and you also have to promise that whatever I tell you does not leave this place. It is of the utmost importance that you keep this to yourself, okay?" I warned her.

"Yes, Nessie, I understand. You can trust me, I won't tell anyone." She reassured me.

"Okay. I do trust you." I smiled slightly. "To answer your question, yes, Edward and Bella are my parents. We're not exactly human." I whispered the last part, but knew she had heard me.

"Not human? Are you an alien?" She snorted.

"No." I smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood. "I'm half-vampire."

She laughed a little, putting a hand in front of her mouth to try to cover it up.

"I'm sorry, Ness. I shouldn't be laughing. I do believe you." She reassured me. "It's just that, since I met you, I could tell there was something different about you and your family. I knew you all had a secret that you kept very well hidden.

"I noticed that you never ate anything, or how your family never breaks into sweat during Gym, and even the freaky same eye color.

"But you're not like them, then. You're half? Half-vampire, how is that even possible?" She asked, not even freaking out as she called me a vampire.

"Aren't you afraid?" I asked instead of answering her.

She shrugged. "I've been around you for a while, and nothing has happened yet. I feel safe around you." She admitted.

"Well," I decided to explain it all. "The whole family is made up of full vampires, except for me. I'm a half-breed.

"I was born to Edward and Bella twenty years ago, the same day my mother became a vampire. She was turned because of me, I almost killed her." I confessed.

"Anyways, she was eighteen when that happened. So she's now thirty-eight if we count human and vampire years. If not, she's twenty still, just like me." I smiled as I noticed Sara's rapt attention.

"My dad was turned in nineteen-eighteen," I continued. "He was seventeen at the time, and Grandpa Carlisle changed him on his deathbed. Dad told me he was dying of Spanish influenza, but Grandpa saved him.

"It was Grandpa that changed Grandma Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, but not Alice or Jasper. They came into the family a while later, around the 1950's. Carlisle was what they now call a vegetarian vampire."

"Vegetarian vampire? How does that work?" She asked.

"It means we only drink the blood of animals, never human. That's why their eyes are golden and not red." I explained.

"But you have brown eyes." She stated rather than asked.

"Yes, because of my half-human side. I'm always told my eyes look just like my mother's did when she was human. They do not change color as I hunt, so I have to be very careful to remember when to hunt."

"Right, and how did all this happen again? You, Bella, I'm a little lost." She looked so confused.

"Okay. My family lives in places where the sun rarely shines. They don't turn into dust when it direct contact, but something does happen. You'll have to wait and see, though." I expected some complaining, but she remained quiet. "So Grandpa can work at hospitals and the others can pretend to be human and go to school.

"They moved to Forks about twenty-five years ago. They started out young, as freshmen and sophomores, so they could stay there as long as possible. Mom moved there in the middle of her junior year, and she and Dad fell in love.

"A lot of things happened, some that I still don't know, but they ended up getting married in August, after they'd graduated high school. I really don't want to go into details, but about a month after that, I was born."

"A month? Was Bella pregnant when they got married?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No, she wasn't. She was barely pregnant a whole month. I developed really fast, and was born two days before her nineteenth birthday. And from then on my growth was quite accelerated. I've been eighteen for over ten years now. I was fully grown by the time I turned seven."

"Oh, wow. So you're twenty, but you've looked like this since you were seven?" She tried to understand.

"Yes." I replied, hoping she would not freak out and leave me. "I'll never change. That is something I got from my vampire Dad, never getting old. I got most vampire qualities, but have a few human ones as well."

"Such as?"

"Well, you know I eat. I actually enjoy most things. Mom was a really great cook as a human, and she makes the best things; she always made sure I had at least one human food a day, and now I'm used to it.

"I sleep and my heart beats. My body is warmer than average."

"Yeah, I noticed that." She told me.

"That's about it."

She looked so calm, I was so scared all I had just said would finally sink in and she would run away, never to return.

"Sara, aren't you even remotely horrified by what I just said? I have just confessed that I drink blood and go to high school with my parents. Why aren't you running away?" I had to ask.

"Ness, I've never had a friend like you before. You are my best friend, no matter what. I know we haven't known each other for too long, but you're important to me.

"You and your family had shown more affection to me than my whole family has my whole life. It doesn't matter if you're vampires, aliens or whatever, as long as I can still have you as my friend.

"And I have to say I am truly grateful that you have trusted me with this. I know this isn't something that you treat lightly, and just to know what you were hiding is enough."

I couldn't help myself. I ignored the small distance I put between us and hugged her as tightly as I could without hurting her.

"Thank you, Sara. You are my best friend, too, and I was so scared I would lose you today. Thank you for giving me a chance to explain. Daddy was right." I whispered the last part, but since we were so close to each other, she heard me.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Well," I hesitated for a while. "Some of our kind have gifts. Not all of them, mind you, but the family is quite talented.

"Jasper can feel and influence people's emotions. You'll probably notice it when things go calm way too easily. Alice can see the future, based on people's decisions. Your future is not set in stone, so if you change your path your future won't be the same.

"My mom, Bella, can shield her mind. Dad said he couldn't read her mind even as a human, and it developed into something more once she became a vampire. As I said, Dad reads minds. That's what I meant about him being right."

"He could hear what I thought." She concluded. "So what?"

"Well, he reassured me that you were a good friend. He actually said you had one of the purest minds around." I smiled at her.

"That's good to know." She blushed a bit. "What about you, can you do anything?"

I nodded. "Yes, I can show people my thoughts, but I have to touch them. And just recently I learned how to protect my mind as well, like my mother."

"Awesome, can you show me sometime?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Sure," I replied a bit uncertain. "Just promise you won't freak out."

She nodded eagerly, so I touched my hand to her and showed most of our time together.

"It's like watching a movie." She commented once I stopped. "A really good story of your life." She chuckled. "It was awesome."

I smiled at her.

"So, let's see if I got this all right. Because your father was a vampire before you were born, but your mother was human, you turned out to be half and half. They don't disintegrate in the sun or anything. They don't have a heartbeat. By the way, is that why they're all so cold?"

"Yes." I replied. "I thought you hadn't noticed that."

She shrugged. "I just noticed this weekend. Being with Esme all that time and then touching you and Bella at the same time. It's quite the difference."

"Yes, it is. I'm so used to it, though, I forget about it most of the time."

We grew silent for a while, letting her digest all she had learned. I knew it wasn't easy for someone to drop a bomb like that on you, so I gave her the time she needed.

"Hey, Ness, can I ask you something?" She broke the silence after about five minutes.

"Yes, sure." I replied, not knowing where this was going.

"Who's Jacob?" She asked straight out.

I looked down, sighing quite loudly.

"You don't have to answer that." She whispered and I felt guilty for making her regret asking it.

"No, no, it's okay. It's just a bit hard. I guess my parents told you a bit about what happened, right?"

"Well, they told me he hurt you and tried to..." She didn't finish, but I knew what she meant.

"Yes, they didn't make it up." I told her.

"He used to be a friend." I started my tale. "When I was born, he was always around. I didn't mind his as a kid, but as I grew up, his constant presence started to get on my nerves.

"He was always around, and always trying to prevent me from doing something. _'It's too dangerous', 'you can't go in there, what if something happens?'_." I mocked Jacob's voice.

"He kept trying to be the parent; whenever Mom and Dad let me do something, he would try to go with me, or make me give up on the idea to spend time with him.

"When I was about seven physically, my real age around two, I started to distance myself from him. I could tell he was too possessive and controlling, and I didn't want someone other than my immediate family trying to order me around.

"He didn't get the message that I didn't want him around, and put it in his mind that my father had put me up to it and that I really just loved him and wanted to run away with him.

"I never gave him the impression I wanted something more. And I couldn't understand why he just wouldn't leave me alone. So one day my parents sat me down and explained all about it.

"Jacob's not human, either." I explained. "You may have noticed how easily he dragged me around. He's actually a werewolf." I confessed.

"Like the ones with the full moon?" She asked, looking a bit stunned.

"No, they change at will. Actually, they're not truly werewolves, more like shape-shifters, and because they change into a wolf they call themselves werewolves.

"Mom explained there was something that happened with wolves called imprinting. It's like love at first sight," I hurriedly explained as I noticed her confused face.

"But more powerful. Basically, Jacob was drawn to me from my mother's womb, and the moment he laid eyes on me, I became the most important thing in his life." I rolled my eyes.

"Never mind that he wanted to get me killed first, or that even before that he believe himself in love with my mother." I said sarcastically. "An imprint is very powerful, and usually the imprintee returns their feelings."

"But you were a baby." She protested.

"Yes, I know. They explained that at first we would be like best friends, and then when I got older I would develop feeling for him, because who wouldn't want a guy that would always be there for you, right?

"Well, half of me is vampire, their mortal enemy. So a part of me would always hate him, no matter what. I guess I didn't want to be tied up to someone that would do anything and everything for me. It would get tiring.

"And when he became controlling and all that, I knew I would never love him back. I wanted equality, not someone to order me around.

"As I said he didn't believe me when I told him to go away. He kept coming back, and we kept trying to make him leave me alone.

"For a while, we thought it had worked. He'd stayed away for about five years, until I was fully grown. He was never even around our cottage, or else Dad would have heard him.

"When I was ten he attacked me. Everyone had gone out, leaving only me and Mom at home. She was at the big house, which was what we called the main Cullen place. We lived a couple of miles into the forest, and I had gone home to sleep.

"He barged in and started saying awful things, about how I was his and that we'd go away together and he would finally have me. I tried to fight him off, but he was stronger.

"He beat me up pretty badly. Even though I heal faster than humans, it took me almost a month to be completely okay. My mom heard my screams from the big house and came to help me just as he was about to..." I trailed out, knowing she would understand.

"I hadn't seen him since before Friday. He is still delusional, though, thinking my father was keeping us apart, and that we would leave together soon and I'd make the perfect wife." I shuddered.

"That bastard." I heard her whispered and smiled slightly. "I'm so sorry all this happened to you. It must have been horrible."

I nodded, hugging her to me once more.

"I've started to get over it. Ever since then, I've been so scared of men and I have constant nightmares. The one reason we hadn't started school before was because I wasn't ready.

"The multitude of people in closed spaces made me panic, and I worked hard on it to help me get better. I wanted to attend high school, and nothing would stop me, not even myself.

"I got better, I think. I couldn't go to a shrink, as I never got old and how would I explain to someone that a werewolf thought I was his possession and tried to rape me?"

"That wouldn't go well." She chuckled lightly, lightening the mood.

"That's about it." I concluded. "Now you know my deepest secret."

"You can trust me with it, Nessie. It's not like anyone would believe me if I ever told them anyways." She laughed. "So, what about the vampire traits you talked about?"

"Oh, well, we're really strong, but obviously I'm weaker than them. We're also really fast and they can run without ever breaking a sweat. And we have very acute senses. I can hear your heartbeat right now, and see your freckles, and smell your perfume."

"It's body splash. I don't like perfume." She said with a laugh.

"How fast can you go?" She asked.

I shrugged.

"Pretty fast, I guess. I can show you later."

"Awesome," exclaimed Sara.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Not right now." She shook her head. "I'm sure I'll think of something later on."

We both chuckled at that.

"Sara, thank you." I said. "Thank you for not freaking out on me. I was truly scared you'd hate me for this."

She hugged me.

"Renesmee, I could never hate you. I told you, you are my best friend. My sister. I love you."

I smiled at her.

"I love you, too, Sar." I wiped away the few tears that managed to fall.

"So, wanna go for a ride?" I asked her. "It's getting pretty late, and my mom's gonna freak out if we're not back. Do you think you could sleep over tonight? I'd feel better if you didn't have to go home right now."

She just shrugged.

"I'm sure no one will notice, but I'll call to let them know."

She went away for a few minutes and came back with a frown.

"Why is she always so rude? I'm staying, by the way. She said it would be great to have me out of the house for a while."

I could tell she wanted to cry, but I didn't want her to shed another tear for that vile woman.

"Wanna ride?" I asked, trying to make her feel better.

I turned my back to her and told her to hop up.

"I'm too heavy, Ness." She started to complain, but I didn't hear any of it.

"Just do it." I insisted and she finally gave in.

"You may want to close your eyes if you feel seasick or anything like that. I know for a fact my mother felt really sick when she did this the first time."

She nodded, but I could tell her eyes were wide open. I started running, going slow first then speeding up a little bit.

I ran through the woods for a while, loving the feeling of the wind on my face.

Once we got near the house, I slowed down.

"Are you okay?" I asked Sara, who was still perched on my back.

"It was so freaking awesome!" She exclaimed loudly, getting down my back with a huge smile on her face.

As soon as we got into the house, I was attacked by a hug.

"I'm sorry." Mom whispered. "We all knew she was there, we just wanted an excuse so you could tell her. I hope we didn't ruin anything."

"You didn't." I replied, smiling at her as she let me go. "Sara's a lot like you."

She chuckled, just noticing the smile in Sara's face.

"I guess she is." Mom smiled, hugging Sara as well.

"By the way, she's staying the night, okay?"

Mom nodded, letting me know it wouldn't be a problem.

We walked into the living room, where the whole family was waiting expectantly, even though they tried to look busy.

"I guess it's time for some proper introductions." I said, grabbing Sara's hand and bringing her with me to the middle of the room.

"Over here are my grandparents, Esme and Carlisle." I waved at them.

"Those two playing video games are my uncles, Emmett and Jasper." They both said a quick hello before going back to their game.

"Now, those two trying to look busy, and failing," I joked. "Are my aunts, Alice and Rosalie." They both stuck out their tongues because of my comment, making me laugh.

"Lastly, those two trying to look like they weren't just ripping their hair out with worry are my Momma and Daddy." They smiled sheepishly, knowing they were caught.

"Sorry about all that, Sara." Dad said. "We just didn't like hiding and I could tell you were growing suspicious. But, if anything, you did figure it out on your own, okay?"

She nodded, quickly agreeing with him.

"Esme made dinner for you girls. You should eat something." Mom said.

I nodded and motioned for Sara to follow me into the kitchen, where we ate in silence.

As soon as we were done, we could hear the beginnings of a piano song being played, so we went out to investigate.

We got into the music room and sat down quietly, just listening as my father played beautifully. Mom was sitting next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. She had her eyes closed and a small smile graced her lips. They looked beautiful.

"That was amazing." I whispered once he was done. Anything more and I feared I would break the calm atmosphere he had created.

"I don't think I've ever heard it before." Sara complemented in the same low voice.

"That's because he wrote it." Mom explained, leaving Sara in awe. "Edward loves the piano, writing and playing is one of his passions. And this one," she looked at Dad waiting for permission. "This one is for you, Sara."

"For me?" A tear ran down her eyes. "But it's such a beautiful piece."

"Just like you." Dad finished for her. "You've been such an amazing friend for my little girl. You have no idea just how much you have helped her. So, as a thank you, I wrote you this. I'm glad you liked it." He bowed his head in the end.

"Now you should go finish that pile of homework I know you didn't do yet." Mom said, which made both of us groan. My parents just laughed, motioning for us to go upstairs.

I rolled my eyes but complied. It really wasn't that big a load, so we finished quite quickly. It gave us time to watch a movie before bed.

Before we got to it, Sara asked if she could borrow some pajamas and a towel so she could shower. I handed her one of the shorts and tank top combinations I wear to bed and showed her where everything was in the bathroom.

As soon as she got in, I heard my mother walk in.

"Is she doing okay?" She asked as she sat down next to me.

I nodded and smiled.

"She's just like you, you know. She didn't even flinch."

We both laughed.

"Are you feeling better?"

I nodded again.

"Yeah, daddy took me out to hunt, and we talked. I feel better, and I'm ready to go to school tomorrow." I reassured her.

"I'm sorry I made you go, May."

"Mom, I already said it was not your fault. By the way, did you find out who knew about it?"

She nodded.

"Who was it?" She put her arm around my shoulder.

"Some girl named Lucy something or other. She's one of those stupid, prep kids that think someone else's life is their business," she said.

"Apparently, she was at the park as well, probably stalking Nick, and saw you."

I laughed at the stalking part. I didn't know who Lucy was but I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last we hear of her.

"Eh, it doesn't matter anymore anyways."

Sara was done with her shower and came out of the bathroom. My mom looked at her and smiled.

"Well, I'll leave you two be. Don't stay up late. And May, if you can't sleep, just yell." It was her way of telling to let her know if I had any nightmares.

"Thanks, Mom."

She kissed my forehead.

"G'night. Love ya."

"Love you, too, Momma." I replied.

She said a good night to Sara and left.

"Aaww, you guys are so cute." Sara shrieked. I laughed as she continued. "It must be weird, you know, having parents the same _age_ as you."

"I don't think so," I replied, "I think it's cool. I mean, they usually act like my siblings, and I can talk to them about anything. I like it."

She smiled.

"You do look a lot like Bella, but I noticed your hair is the same shade as Edward's."

I nodded.

"Yeah, I got a lot of things from my dad," I laughed. "Except my eyes, as I said, they're exactly like my mother's when she was human."

I told her, and took a picture out of the drawer.

"See." I showed her a picture of their wedding day.

"Wow, that's Bella?" She asked.

I nodded.

"But she's so different."

I laughed.

"Yes, she is. She technically _died_, after giving birth to me, so my dad had to _change_ her. You know, into one of them. I guess that's why we're so close. I mean, she gave up her life for me. I can't ever hate her. You know?" I told Sara sincerely.

She merely nodded.

"That's beautiful, Ness." She smiled but her constant yawning kind of ruined the moment.

I laughed.

"We should sleep, you know they can hear us if we're not asleep by midnight." She smiled and got under the covers.

I lay down on the other side and we both slept peacefully, not worrying about what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

_Not the reaction you were expecting?_

_I think it's kind of how I would react. But then, I'm already into the mystic world, I love witches, fairies and all... why not vampires as well right? lol_


	17. Chapter 16

_Hey guys! Another chap up! There's a twist in the end, hope you like. Thank you all for the reviews, they were awesome!  
_

_Some inspiration taken__ from INeedEdwardMoreThanLifeItself's review, so thank you =D _

_Sort of a filler though, it'll pick up by next chapter... _

_Chap dedicated to IsitaGRC, cause brazilians rock! LOL_

_**Edit: There's still the twist in the end. =)**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 16

RPOV

"Knock, knock." I heard my mother say before she came into the room. I had heard her approaching the door, so it didn't startle me.

She walked around holding a bundle of clothes with her, setting it down on my desk before kneeling by my side.

"Time for school." She said in a low voice, pecking my lips lightly in greeting. I had woken up a few minutes earlier, but Sara was just now coming around.

She groaned as she stretched a bit, then looked around disoriented before noticing where she was. A smile appeared in her face as she greeted us.

We waited another minute for her to fully get her bearings before Mom spoke up, getting up from the floor.

"Alice lent you some clothes." She addressed Sara. "You're about the same size as her, so I think they'll fit okay. If you don't like them, just let me know and we'll find something else for you."

Sara nodded.

"It's fine. Thanks. Do you think I could have a quick shower?" She asked.

"Yes, of course." I replied. "You can go first. I'm sure Alice will want to have some time with you before we leave." I said in a joking manner, but knowing it was true.

As if on cue, which was not too far-fetched for Alice, she came skipping into my room, a huge smile gracing her elfin face.

"I heard my name," said Alice.

Sara looked up in fright, not having heard Alice's approach.

"Alice, don't do anything harsh." Mom argued, knowing aunt Alice's way of life.

"Alice loves dressing people up." I explained to a very confused Sara. "You're going to be her next victim." I said solemnly.

"Victim? She'll thank me when I'm done." Alice said with conviction.

"You have ten minutes to shower." She ordered Sara, who finally caught up with what was happening and headed towards the bathroom.

"Why can't you guys be like her? It would make things so much easier if you just enjoyed fashion a little bit more." She ranted to us while we waited.

Mom and I both rolled our eyes. We had heard the same thing over and over for more than twenty years.

Alice almost attacked Sara when she came out of the bathroom. I knew she was happy to have someone appreciate all the time she put behind choosing an outfit, and also someone who wasn't complaining about a makeover.

"Just please don't scare my best friend away, Aunt Alice."

Sara actually laughed at that.

"Ness, after all I have learned yesterday, do you really think this is going to scare me away?"

I pouted.

"I just don't get how you're excited about it. Alice is ruthless." I joked, but it had a hint of truth to it.

"She'll be fine. You should shower if you want to get to school on time." Alice reminded me, and I went into the bathroom to escape her madness.

Twenty minutes later we were all ready to go. Alice didn't go overboard, so I was relieved. Sara suggested Alice help her with her hair and things like that, and my aunt went crazy with happiness.

At least someone was willing to submit their body for Alice to play with.

Sara looked a bit different than normal, but not much. Her clothes were a bit more sophisticated than what she usually wore, but that was because they were not hers.

Overall she looked nice and not overly done.

We decided on splitting up girls in one car and boys in the other so there wouldn't be an argument over who was going to ride with whom. Those were quite frequent around this place.

Our mood had improved quite a bit from last week, and it showed. We were all singing out loud to pop-y and upbeat songs, laughing while doing so.

It seemed the whole school had their eyes on us when we arrived. I was looking so different from yesterday, it must have shocked them all.

Not that it was any of their business, but they were probably wondering what had happened in one day that made me change so much.

My best friend knew all about me, and didn't hate me. That was what happened.

I ignored the whispers and talking, heading straight to class with half of the family in tow.

The morning passed by in the blink of an eye, and soon it was lunchtime. Sara and I walked into the cafeteria, heading straight for the line to grab some food.

Once we reached the family, I noticed none of them had bought anything.

"No props today?" I asked in a quiet voice.

They all just shrugged. "Not in the mood." Emmett explained.

We just talked while I ate. Emmett's mood had improved drastically and he was making us laugh. He always felt better when everyone was smiling. He didn't like frowns, or so he once told me.

"Nessie!" I heard someone call midway through lunch.

Nick was walking towards our table, looking incredibly guilty.

"Are you okay? I looked for you yesterday, but your sister told me you weren't feeling well and went home." He nodded towards my mother.

"Yes," I nodded. "I wasn't feeling too well, Edward took me home. But I'm better today." I smiled reassuringly.

He bent down and hugged me as best as he could.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I know I should have done something when that dude showed up, but he was massive and looked like he could kill me with one punch." I didn't tell him it was actually true. "He ran away so fast as well, I just couldn't even try."

"Hey, Nicky, I'm alright. It was not your fault, and it's over, okay? There was nothing you could do." I explained.

He nodded, but I could tell I had not fully convinced him. He was growing anxious for being around my family, so he started to look around the table.

"Sara." His eyes widened comically. "I didn't recognize you." He smiled.

Sara looked down, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"You look really nice." He continued.

"Thanks to Alice." She whispered, and I could tell my aunt had a smug smile on her face, even though I wasn't looking at her.

A few minutes later the bell rang and we all got up to go to our next class.

Nick walked with Sara and I, wriggling his hands in front of him as if he were nervous.

He put a hand on my shoulder just as we reached the classroom's door.

"Ness, can I ask you something?"

I looked at Sara and motioned with my head for her to go ahead. I then looked back at Nick expectantly, wondering what this was all about.

"Willyougotothedancewithme?" He said in one breath.

"What?" I asked. I had honestly not understood a thing of what he'd said.

He took a deep breath and tried again.

"Will you go to the dance with me?"

I smiled at him.

"Homecoming?" I asked. He nodded nervously. "Yes, of course." I pecked his cheek before going into the classroom.

I saw him blush as we took our seats.

"What was that all about?" Sara asked in a whisper.

"He just asked me to the dance." I whispered back, holding in a very girly squeal that was threatening to escape.

"That's great." She smiled, but it seemed a bit forced.

"Don't worry, we'll find you a date as well." I reassured her, knowing exactly what she was thinking about.

"Yeah, good luck with that." She joked, but her eyes told me all I needed to know.

I made it my new mission. I had to find a date for Sara for the dance in two weeks.

My last classes went by slowly. It was probably the fact that I knew it all and found the subject extremely boring.

I could see why my family did not like to go through all this over and over.

I was walking to the parking lot with Sara, when I noticed Alice perk up when she saw me. Not a good thing. I walked to the car, seeing both my mom and Rose already sitting and smiling at me.

Another bad sign.

"Nessie," Alice said, in a singing voice. "Guess what?" she asked.

"What?" I replied, dreading the answer.

"We get to go shopping today!" She shrieked.

"No! Why?" I asked, while getting in the car. Sara and Alice got in behind me.

"Because I saw a certain _someone_ being asked to the dance, and that someone needs a new dress." She said, laughing.

"Evil psychic, annoying little vampire." I said under my breath. That only made them all laugh harder.

"Sara," Alice looked at her. "Are you coming with us?"

I intervened.

"She already has a dress," I told her. "Maybe some other time?" I directed my question to Sara. I didn't want her to feel like I didn't want her to come. I just didn't want to subject her to Alice in a shopping spree just yet.

"Yeah, I have some catching up to do with homework and all that. Maybe some other time." Sara agreed.

"Okay," shrugged Alice, already knowing what the answer would have been. "We'll drop Sara off first, than Bella and we'll be off."

"Mom's not coming?" I panicked.

She looked at me from over her shoulder with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, baby. Alice already bought me a dress in L.A. and I really want to stay home."

"You're really not going?" I asked her.

"Nope." She said, popping the 'p'.

"Not even to save your favorite daughter from being tortured over and over again?"

"May, baby, I'm sorry. I just _really_ don't want to go. Forgive me?" She asked, already with a sad puppy face in place.

I pouted, knowing I would give in.

"Fine." I sighed.

She smiled.

"But think positively. You're going to spend some quality time with your two favorite aunts."

I laughed at that.

"Rosie will protect me from the evil pixie, won't you, Auntie Rose?"

She laughed, and looked at me through the rear mirror.

"Of course, Nessie." I smiled at that.

At least someone would be there to slow Alice down. If that were even possible.

We dropped Sara off at her house, and they let Mom out somewhere in between our home and the mall. We lived on the outskirts of the city, with lots of vegetation around, so she would be able to run home.

We arrived at the mall ten minutes later. I was barely out of the car, and Alice was already dragging me into the first shop.

We walked around the first floor for about forty minutes, and only Rose had been lucky enough to find her dress. About twenty minutes after that, Alice found her perfect outfit, and it made me really frustrated.

I thought I'd just find a dress that fit me and be done with it, but that was not what happened. I was annoyed, tired and hungry, and I wanted to go home.

"Rosie," I whined. "I'm hungry. Can we stop a little?"

Alice was about to protest, but Rosalie shut her up with a glare.

"Sure, sweetie." She lead the way to the food court, and I selected a piece of chocolate cake; maybe the sugar would make me cheer up a little.

I ate slowly, drinking my Coke one sip at a time just so I could stay seated for a while longer.

After twenty minutes, Alice got up, knowing I was truly done, and dragged me to the nearest store.

Luckily that was where I found my dress. It was light purple, with spaghetti straps that looked really delicate. It had a dark purple ribbon right under the chest and came down to my ankles.

"I found it." I whispered. Both Alice and Rose were by my side in a second, pulling me into the store and asking the clerk for the dress in my size.

Thankfully, it fitted perfectly. I smiled and sighed in relief. One, because I _had_ found the perfect dress. And two, Alice would stop pestering me.

At the same store, I found my heels and accessories, so I was good to go after we paid.

As we got home I could hear the piano, so I went straight for the music room, knowing my parents would be there.

"Please, don't ever leave me alone with her like that, Mom. She's a force to be reckoned and I don't have the energy to subdue her." I complained to my mother.

I was tired and cranky and needed to let some of it all go.

"I'm sorry, May." She got up and hugged me to her. "I just really didn't want to go, and I had to talk to your father and Esme. You're still in one piece, I can see, so it must not have been so bad." She joked.

I sighed, resting my head on her shoulder.

"I did find a pretty nice dress." I confessed. "I'll show it to you later." I promised as I let her go. "I'm going to go find Grandma and go to bed. My legs are burning."

I passed through the piano and kissed my father's head.

"Hi, Daddy."

He chuckled, but replied to my greeting before I left the room.

I called out for Esme, trying to pinpoint her scent, but it was all over the house.

"In the kitchen, sweet girl." She replied.

I could see she was making something for me and smiled in appreciation. She turned back to the stove to stir the pot of noodles and I hugged her waist from behind, peering over her shoulder to see what smelled so good.

"I missed you." I told her.

"I just saw you this morning." She retorted.

"Yes, well, we barely spend time together as it is." I shrugged.

"Well, sit down and we'll talk while you eat then." She smiled at me as I took a seat at the breakfast bar.

A few minutes later she put a plate of what looked like ravioli in front of me, and I dug in right away. I was famished.

She asked me about my day and how school was this time around and in return I asked about her newest projects.

She loved to build homes and decorate them, and she was currently working on something new.

She insisted she would do the dishes later, and would instead accompany me to my room, where Grandpa was waiting.

I got ready for bed, showering quickly to rid myself of the stress caused by everything before getting into bed.

"Hi, Grandpa." I whispered, my eyes heavy with sleep. He kissed my forehead lightly before sitting down next to me.

Grandma lay down on my other side and I rested my head on her shoulders. I felt so safe surrounded by family, it was like nothing and no one could hurt me.

"You're safe now, my child." Grandpa whispered, knowing exactly what I was thinking about.

I nodded, asking for him to tell me one of his stories. The sound of his voice would lull me to sleep in no time.

He started the tale of how she and Grandma had first met, but before he could really get into it, I was fast asleep.

School was the same the next day. The gossip had died down a bit and, with that, the stares almost completely stopped, which made me relieved.

Sara came home with us because she had promised Alice could help her with her hair. We had barely parked the car and my aunt was already carrying Sara up to her room.

Alice had already started wetting Sara's hair when we got upstairs.

I sighed.

"Please don't cut all your hair off, Sara. It's so beautiful." And it really was, reaching past mid-back with soft waves and really black, which contrasted beautifully with her pale skin.

"Wasn't going to." She reassured me. "But I don't want it to just hang there, you know?"

Alice nodded, even though the question was directed at me.

"We'll just cut an inch or two, to give it more movement. Sara's got this whole gothic princess thing going on, maybe we'll add some red highlights to it."

She started muttering to herself, shooing us all out of the room.

I knew Sara didn't get any attention at her house, and I also knew how much it meant to her that my family did care for her, so I didn't worry about leaving her alone in the hands of Alice.

I tried to distract myself by doing homework, but that didn't help; I was done with it in less than half an hour.

It was another hour before we heard from my aunt again.

"You might want to know, your friend is in one piece, and she looks amazing."

Sara came down the stairs soon after, and I smiled. She looked so much happier than I had ever seen her.

Her hair was shorter, but not much, and it had a few layers added to it with red highlights mixed in. For now it was straight and shiny.

Her make-up was light, just some mascara and a dark eyeliner that made her eyes pop out. There was a light shade of red lipstick on her lips, and with that final touch she truly looked like the perfect gothic princess.

Her clothes were a little less dark, though. I knew Alice had gone all out and bought quite the collection for Sara, and she was wearing one of the outfits selected by us.

She had on a really light pink tank top combined with black skinny jeans and pink slip-on Chucks. She was carrying in one arm a dark blue jacket, because there was no way she could leave without one. This city usually got colder during the night.

"That haircut looks really good, Sar." I was honest with my opinion. "You look so different as well. Lighter, happier." I smiled.

She grinned back at me.

"I feel great."

We spent the rest of the day just talking and watching movies. Sara didn't want to intrude, so we took her home with the promise to pick her up in the morning.

I went to bed late, feeling extremely pleased my friend was starting to feel better.

When we got to school the next day, everyone was staring. I knew they would since Sara's hair was just so out there, but it still made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

I started feeling confused once I could make out the words they were whispering.

Half of them were commenting on Sara's change, and mostly they were not saying anything nice, which made me want to jump on them all and make them shut up.

But mostly, all I could hear was things like, '_Do you think he's related?'; 'But his eyes are blue, not gold.'_

"Daddy," I whispered, "what is going on?"

"From what I gathered," he whispered back. "We have a new student today. And from what I could see in their minds, he seems just like you."

"Like me?" I asked, already fearing the answer.

"A hybrid."

Great. Just great.

* * *

_I'm not into fashion at all (I even own a F*** Fashion tee - courtesy of my brother), so describing clothes and stuff is NOT for me. Sorry. Nessie's dress is ahmm actually the one I wore for my Prom party last month... Cause it's easier to write and describe stuff that you know about lol... If you _really _want to see the dress, let me know in your review, and I'll send a pic =]_


	18. Chapter 17

_Hey peeps! New chap up =D Guess you wanna know who the new guy is ;) Thanks a lot for the reviews, they're awesome! _

_Forgot to post, 'Curuia', song for last chapter: Vampire by Antsy Pants, cause I crack up every time I listen to it._

_Music for this chapter: Across the Universe OST (cause you can't go wrong with the Beatles)__. _

_**Edit: Across the Universe is still one of the best musicals ever.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 17

RPOV

We all went inside the building together, wanting to know if the humans' thoughts were true.

Dad said not to worry before he left us by our lockers; he would find out exactly what was going on and let us know by lunch time.

We didn't have any classes with him in the morning, but I knew he was a sophomore like us.

Lunch time came, and Alice, Mom and I headed towards the cafeteria. My aunt had her arm linked through Mom's and I was holding her other hand, talking with her in my own way.

Mom would reply with slight nods or shakes of her head, and that way we could have private conversations with no interruptions.

We hadn't seen the newcomer and hadn't had the chance to talk to anyone else so we didn't know if he was indeed a hybrid.

But as soon as we set foot inside the cafeteria, we knew.

He was waiting by the lunch line, his distinct scent wafting over to us. He did smell a little bit like me, except less sweet and more salty, like the ocean.

His skin was just as pale as ours, which was a good sign. I did not want him to be related to Nahuel in any way; his father disgusted me.

He had dirty blond hair that was cropped short and spiked up, and he wasn't as tall as any of the men in my family. His eyes were blue, and he was dressed quite nicely in a black button up shirt and jeans.

His face was troubled, despite the calm he was trying to convey through it.

We noticed he was heading towards an empty table and, in a second, Alice had danced across the room to where he was, asking him to join us.

He smiled gratefully, and followed her to our now usual table.

I was still selecting my food, so I just grabbed the first thing I saw so I could go talk to the guy.

Mom sat down next to Dad, quickly pecking his lips so no teacher would see, and rested her head on his shoulder. I sat right next to her and started eating.

I was suddenly very hungry.

"Guys, this is Cole Williams." Alice introduced him.

"Cole, this is everyone, Nessie, Bella, Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper."

He smiled at us in greeting.

"Are you alone?" Emmett asked.

"No, I moved here with my Dad. We were supposed to arrive a few weeks ago, but we had some complications." He told us.

"Right. Well, let's cut the chase here. We were here first, are you a threat?" Jasper asked.

"No." Cole shook his head. "Dad and I wanted to start over. It's so hard for him, he can barely pass as thirty, so we move around a lot."

"You're a half-breed." My dad stated.

"Yes." Cole looked surprised.

"You're not as unique as you like to think." Dad most likely replied to his thoughts.

"I'm Renesmee." I offered my hand for him to shake, which he did readily.

"Whoa, you look just like them." He said as he motioned to my parents. "How come no one ever noticed it?"

We all shrugged. "Humans don't really pay too much attention to us." Jasper explained.

As the lunch hour progressed, we all tried to get to know him better.

The first thing we found out about them was that they were like us regarding their diet; the rest flowed easily after that.

Cole followed me to our next class. I sat down behind Sara while Cole talked to the teacher.

"Where were you during lunch?" I asked her.

"Library." She answered.

The teacher directed Cole to the vacant spot next to Sara and I couldn't help but notice how he kept staring at her throughout the class. I guess Sara noticed too, because I could see her blush before she hid her face behind her hair.

Once the class ended, I introduced them.

"Sara, this is Cole. He's the new student. Cole, this is my best friend Sara."

They shook hands, both still intently locked in the other's gaze.

We had asked Cole to get his father to come over our house later on, so we could all get familiar with each other, and I reminded him of it as we left the classroom.

When we got home, Alice went straight to Grandma to tell her what had happened.

Sara was with us today again, so we went to my room to do our homework and then relax for a while.

About an hour and a half later, my dad came into my room.

"Ness, Cole and his father are downstairs, if you'd like to join us." He said, smiling.

"Sure, Daddy. We're almost done in here. We'll be right down."

He nodded and left.

We put everything back where it belonged before going downstairs, where Cole and his father were waiting for us.

"Sara, how nice to see you again." Cole greeted her, all but forgetting about me. Not that I minded.

"You, too. We didn't get a chance to talk at school." She said.

His smile got bigger.

They went on with their shy conversation, which left me to my thoughts. Something must have happened that I hadn't noticed in school, as Sara was never so open when meeting someone.

"Nessie," Esme called me, breaking me out of my thoughts. "This is Cole's father, Arthur."

I walked to him and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"You as well, young lady." He looked me over once before nodding to himself.

"And who's that?" He asked, looking at Sara.

"Oh, that is my best friend, Sara. She figured us out." I told him, trying to be as honest as possible.

He nodded again.

Grandma made small conversation with Arthur while we waited for Grandpa to arrive. He was our coven's leader, and in these situations, he was the one with enough authority to decide what to do.

He saw no threat in neither of them, so we finally fully relaxed and got to know them better.

Arthur was not as old and Grandpa, but he was from around Jasper's time, so they quickly struck a conversation.

Cole was older than me and Mom, but younger than the rest of them.

They bade us good night once they noticed how late it was. Since Sara was sleeping over, we just went up to my room.

While I took a shower, she messed around on my laptop; she didn't have a computer at home.

As I went into my closet to get dressed, I remembered something I had to show Sara. So I quickly put on my pajamas and called her over.

"Sara?" I called. She came into the closet.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"I just wanted to show you something." I pointed to a portion of my closet, which were filled with clothes that would never fit me, but were perfect for Sara somehow.

"This is yours." I motioned through the whole section. "It's something Alice loves to do." I explained. "And since you were a willing subject, she decided to reward you."

"Ness, that's too much." She shook her head, one hand slowly raising to touch a jacket that hung there.

"Nonsense. You're my best friend." I sat down on the ground, and she followed suit.

"Sara, I know life in your house is not the best. If we could do something to get you out of there, believe me, we would have done in a heartbeat.

"But I know there is no abuse that we can tell the police, so we all decided to make it as easy to you as we can. You're not a charity case," I knew she was thinking it.

"You are part of this family, and when you're here you'll always have the best of everything. You deserve it, and we all wanted you to know we love you."

She shed a few tears and hugged me.

"I don't deserve any of this, but thank you. You're the best. And I love you, too."

I knew she wasn't just talking to me at the moment.

We got up after our little emotional conversation, and she grabbed one of the new pajamas we had bought her and headed to the bathroom.

She wanted to lie down as soon as she was ready, but I stopped her.

"Sara Louise Jones! No sleeping yet. We need to talk." I informed her.

She looked a little confused but complied, sitting down in front of me, both of us crossing our legs.

"What?" She asked.

I smiled.

"Cole? Ring any bells?" I told her. She blushed. "You like him." I stated.

She nodded a little.

"I guess. I don't know, though. I barely know him."

I nodded.

"He seems nice enough. And, well..."

"What?" She said, with no patience.

I giggled.

"I think he likes you, too." She blushed.

"Really?" I just nodded. "I don't know. I mean, what's there to like? I don't think he does, Ness."

"You don't, do you?" I said, somewhat teasing her. She shook her head. "Let's see then."

I spoke up just a little louder.

"Daddy, can you come here a sec?"

She looked like a tomato, she was so red. I giggled again, and a few seconds later, I heard my dad come in.

"Yes?" He said.

"Dad, can you do me a favor, and convince this best friend of mine that Cole does indeed like her."

I smiled, seeing Sara put her hands on her head, hiding her embarrassment.

"Nessie does have a point, Sara. I could hear his thoughts all day. You showed up a lot in his mind." He smiled.

She looked up.

"Really?" She looked so hopeful.

He just nodded.

"Thank you for your services, father." I thank him, dismissing him as well.

He chuckled and came over to me, kissing my forehead.

"My pleasure. Now, don't stay up late." We nodded and he left.

I started laughing again.

"Not funny, Renesmee."

I shrugged. "You didn't want to believe me. Now how can you deny information from a mind reader?" I smiled at her.

She sighed in defeat.

"Whatever. Now can we sleep?"

"I'm sorry, Sar. Are you mad at me?" I didn't want her to think I was doing it to hurt her.

She smiled and shook her head.

"Of course not, Ness. But we really should sleep." I just nodded.

We got under the covers and were asleep in no time.

Sleep came fast, but so did the nightmares. I started to toss and turn, not fully asleep but not able to wake up either.

I screamed loudly when I broke free from the dream, startling Sara. She looked around perplexed, trying to figure out what was going on but before she could say anything I was enveloped in a cold embrace.

I clung to my mother and started to cry. She just held me tighter, letting me cry it out on her shoulder.

"Is she okay?" I heard Sara ask in a whisper.

Mom shook her head, still trying to calm me down. She lifted me up and put me on her lap, rocking gently and soothingly rubbing my back, waiting until I was calm enough to stop.

"Momma," I said in a small voice. "Make them stop, please."

It hurt my mother every time she saw me like this, and I hated myself for it.

"I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry." She kept on saying. "I wish I could."

I looked up at her, and saw the hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Momma. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Ssh, babe. It's not your fault, you know that." I nodded. I was feeling calmer.

"Deep breaths now." I obliged. "Good. Now, can you show me what happened?" My mom asked.

I put my hand on her face, and showed my dream. Jacob was back, but he didn't come after me this time, he went for my mom.

I just watched as he tore her apart, and did nothing.

Once the memory faded, my hand went back to where it was before, holding onto her neck as if it were my lifeline.

"Please, don't leave me, Momma."

"Oh, May, don't worry. I'm here and I'm not leaving you, okay?" I nodded.

"I love you, May, more than my own life."

"Love you, too, Mom." I whispered.

I looked up and saw Sara with tears in her eyes. I motioned for her to come to our side, and put my arm around her.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Sar."

"It's okay, Ness. I'm fine. Are you okay?" She looked so scared.

I nodded.

"I'm better."

"Okay, girls," I heard my mom say. "Let's go downstairs and grab a glass of milk, so you can go back to sleep."

She kissed both our foreheads and made to get up. I looked at her before she did, and whispered, "piggyback?"

She just smiled and nodded. I hopped on her back, and she turned to look at me, so I smiled a little and pecked her lips. My arms went around her neck while my head rested on her shoulder.

"Sara?" Mom asked. "Are you coming?" Sara nodded and grabbed her hand.

We went down slowly, and when we reached the kitchen, I saw my dad leaning against the counter, with a glass of milk on his hand.

He handed it to me, and gave one for Sara before checking on me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I just nodded. "Do you want to stay with us tonight?" I shook my head.

I finished my milk and rested my head on my mom's shoulder again. I hadn't moved from her back, as it didn't bother her anyways. We waited for Sara to finish, and went back to my room.

Mom tucked us in, and sat by my side, caressing my hair.

"If you need anything else, just yell, okay?"

I nodded.

"Thanks, Mom. Love you." I told her. She smiled at me, and pecked my lips.

"Love you, too."

She got up and went to Sara's side, kissing her forehead and saying, "Goodnight, sweetie."

And as soon as she closed the door, Sara turned to me.

"Your mom is awesome."

I thought so, too.

We noticed Cole already waiting for us when we arrived at school. When he noticed Sara, his lips broke into a grin. It made some people that were near him steer away, unconsciously scared of his perfectly white, deadly teeth.

"Good morning, Ness." He greeted me quickly before turning to Sara.

"Morning, Sara. You look great today." He complimented, which made her blush a little.

I couldn't help but smile at the scene.

"So, how did you like my family?" I asked, starting a conversation as I knew none of them would.

"Oh, they're all great." He reassured me. "I think Emmett and I have a lot in common, and am sure we'll be good friends in no time."

It was true that Emmett was very likeable.

"Everyone there is cool, they treated my father and I with respect, which is so rare in our world."

I nodded in agreement. Vampires had the habit of biting first and asking later.

We headed towards the lockers corridor since we would have to part ways soon. Cole did not have any morning classes with us.

He and Sara kept talking, almost ignoring me completely but I didn't care. I had never seen her so taken by someone and wanted her to be happy, so I let them be.

When we finally got into our first class, Sara sighed loudly while sitting down.

I couldn't hold my giggle in anymore.

"Someone's in love." I teased her.

All I got in return was a glare that was supposed to be scary, but no denial. A minute later, Alice squealed quietly behind us and I turned around to see what was going on.

My aunt talked really low and fast, so no human would be able to hear.

"I just maybe saw Cole asking Sara for the dance."

"You maybe saw?" I replied, not understanding.

"You know you guys are still sometimes fuzzy to me. I could see Sara saying yes to the dance, and since it was blurry, it must have been Cole." She summarized.

"What are you talking about?" Sara asked, looking at both us of suspiciously.

"Nothing." I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.

My friend was anxious the whole morning. I had never seen her like that before but it was quite amusing to watch.

When the bell to lunch rang, she all but sprinted out of the room. I followed right after, catching up to her pretty quickly.

Cole was waiting for her at the door, so we made our way to him. He led us, or well, Sara while I trailed behind, into the cafeteria where we got food and sat down with my family.

We spent the whole hour talking among ourselves. I could tell Cole was just as shy as Sara and tried to keep the conversation flowing so they could get to know each other.

When the topic came about age, Sara just started laughing.

"I'm seventy-two." Cole replied, which was what prompted her giggles.

"I'm surrounded by old people." She tried to say through her chuckles.

"I'm not that much older than you." I pouted. "Only five years or so."

"Still, you're old." She laughed again, which made Cole and I look at each other, shrugging.

"My grandpa is old. I'm not." I crossed my arms in front of me in defiance.

She chuckled once more before taking a deep breath.

"Sorry. Don't know what came over me." She apologized.

We walked to our next class together, catching up with Nick on the way.

We talked about the Homecoming dance, which I think made Cole get the courage to ask Sara. When we reached the classroom, Cole and Sara stayed behind while Nick and I got to our seats.

I could hear what was going on, even though Alice had already warned me.

"Sara, I know it's a little early, and all that, but would you like to go to the dance with me?"

I heard Sara's faint 'yes' before tuning them out.

I heard Sara sit next to me and giggle. I looked at her, and saw her eyes shining. I smiled back at her.

'Mission accomplished.'


	19. Chapter 18

_Hello everyone... new chapter up! It's really not my best one, but I wanted to get it there =D You'll be able to see my mad spanish skills, NOT (I speak Portuguese... too bad). but it's only a line, so... _

_Music for the chapter: Fairy Tale by Shaaman, and I'm a Believer by Smash Mouth (pay attention to the lyrics, it's like describing Edward when he met Bella)_

_Chapter goes to: 'Wassidy' for the inspiring review and 'Monsee23' and 'xxVeronicaxx' cause they joined FF just to leave a review, cause I don't like annonymous ones. Thank you!_

_**Edit: Annonymous reviews are enabled now.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 18

RPOV

That Saturday morning I was awoken by my very hyper aunt. It was barely nine in the morning and I did not want to get out of bed anytime soon; she wouldn't hear any of it, though.

So I slowly got up and made my way to the bathroom, where I took my time. I made sure to wash my hair thoroughly and straighten it all once I was done showering. After brushing my teeth and putting on some casual clothes I finally went downstairs, almost dragging my feet to get there.

Cole and Sara were both waiting for me in the living room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them. We had not set up anything for the day, I was sure of that.

"Your aunt called us and made sure to order us around." Sara told me, and I knew she was not kidding. "According to her, you should be out more and not stay cooped up inside this house hanging around with your parents."

I rolled my eyes; there was nothing wrong about hanging out with my parents.

"You should go, May." Mom encouraged me with a smile. "It'll be good for you."

I just nodded, knowing there was no arguing out of it.

So ten minutes later the three of us were heading out towards the park. It was still too early to go to the mall, but we had decided on watching a movie later on.

It was warm today, a bit too stuffy actually. The sun would surely be out sometime today and we had to be prepared for it. Though Cole and I didn't _sparkle_ as alarmingly as the rest of the vampires, our skin did reflect the light as well, making us glow slightly.

It wasn't pronounced, so we could actually go out during sunny days, but if people took too close a look at us, they'd notice it and all hell could break loose.

We sat down on the grass and just got talking.

"So, Cole, where else have you lived so far?" I asked to start conversation.

"Well, I was born in England, so we lived there for a long time. I just never wanted to stay in my hometown, though. It brought bad memories." He whispered the last part.

"Why?" Sara asked.

"We weren't able to save my mother." He explained. "She died at birth. I still feel guilty."

I nodded in understanding. I had no idea what I would feel like had my mother died that day.

"Yeah, I'd feel the same way. I remember how my mom looked right after birth, and if my dad hadn't been a quick thinker, she wouldn't have made it." I confessed, trying to make him feel better.

"I envy you, Ness," he told me. "For having both parents with you, and parents that love each other and you with such intensity."

I looked at him with a tear escaping my eyes. I wish he could have what I do.

"Ness?" Sara broke our thoughts.

I looked up at her.

"You said you remember your birth?" She asked, amazed.

I chuckled without humor and nodded.

"I remember a lot. I remember when I was still inside her womb, and hearing her voice, and understanding that that was the voice of someone that cared deeply for me.

"My dad told me later that he could hear my thoughts by the end of the pregnancy, and that I was thinking of how much I loved the owner of that voice. The first person I saw when I was born was my father, and then I looked at my mom and I bit her." I said, laughing a little.

"But I'm not venomous, so it didn't help her at all. I was told that my dad injected his venom directly into her heart. That was what saved her. And I thank whoever it is that she is alive."

"How can you remember all that?" Sara asked.

"It's a vampire thing. Our minds work really well." I told her, smiling. "We don't forget stuff, it's like our minds just expand to fit it all in. Sometimes I wish we _could_ forget some things though." I told them, sincerely.

Sara nodded, but Cole looked puzzled.

"How come?" He asked.

"Well, there are a few things I'd rather not remember. Like the Volturi almost killing my whole family because of me." I told him.

"It was your family that stopped him? I've heard about it, but I had no idea." He looked amazed.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Now it was Sara's time to look confused.

"Who are these Volturi dudes? Why did they want to kill you?" She asked.

Cole and I looked at each other, but I decided to explain.

"The Volturi are some sort of _royalty,_" I sneered. They just absolutely disgusted me.

"They exist to make sure our secret is kept from humans. It could be dangerous for you if they knew about you," I told her honestly.

"But we really scared them the last time, I'm not really worried about it."

She nodded, trying to understand it all.

"Anyways, a few months after I was born, there was this vampire - her name was Irina - that saw me, and thought I was an immortal child. They are completely forbidden in our world, because they cannot be tamed.

"So, she went to the Volturi and Alice saw it. We gathered lots of others from our kind to witness for us, to prove that I grew and was not an immortal child."

She nodded, letting me know she was keeping up.

"So about a month after that, they came to our hometown. It was chaotic and absolutely terrifying. Aro, he's the leader of the trio, can read minds. But unlike my father, he was to touch you to see _every thought_ that has ever gone through your mind.

"That was the way we proved I could indeed grow up and that I had a conscience. Immortal children were dangerous because they truly couldn't understand right from wrong.

"The problem was that, because we had proved them wrong, they were furious. They wanted to come out victorious and they tried every bogus thing to make us seem like the bad guys.

"Believe me, they really wanted us dead. But in the end, Mom's shield made their powers useless against us. One of the guard members can completely blind you and that's usually how they win their fights, but since that couldn't affect any of us, they were in serious disadvantage.

"It was useless for them to try. They're essentially coward creatures, preying on the weak and all that, so when they figured out they were outnumbered and powerless, they retreated. And we haven't heard from them since."

Both of them were entranced by the story, which made me smile.

"I always wanted to know what had happened that day." Cole admitted.

I smiled at him.

"And I'm glad they didn't do anything. I don't like them as well." He said.

"Your world is so complicated." Sara said.

I laughed again, and nodded.

"Sara?" Cole asked.

"You know a lot about our kind, right?"

"Well, I wouldn't say a _lot_. But I think I know enough for now. Why?"

"How can you be so calm about it all?" He looked bewildered.

She and I looked at each other and laughed. Cole looked at us, not understanding a thing.

"That was one of the first things I asked her, after I told her." I explained. "You know what she replied?"

Sara responded for me.

"I said I didn't care what you were, just who you were. And my opinion hasn't changed. I really don't care. They're already my family; Bella's been more of a mother to me than my own has ever been."

I smiled at that; I knew Mom had gone all motherly on my friend, and I was glad she truly enjoyed it.

"Well, it is late enough now. Should we go grab some lunch and catch a movie at the mall?" Cole asked.

Sara and I readily agreed.

We slowly made our way back to the car. When we reached it, I went straight to the back seat so Sara had no choice but to seat in the front. She was shy, but only sometimes. They both didn't know how to start a conversation but once they got started, they could go on for hours.

Maybe this would turn into something more. It would also almost be guaranteed that Sara would stay in the family forever.

"So," Sara resumed our conversation. "You're English?" She asked Cole.

He nodded his head in confirmation.

"How come you don't have an accent?" She continued.

"Who says I don't have one?" He replied in the cutest accent ever; I swear I could almost feel Sara melt in the front seat.

"Aw, adorable." I teased him.

"Whatever." He scoffed. "I learned the American accent to blend in better. And it kind of got to me." He smiled as he started the car.

We talked throughout the ride, demanding Cole to keep his accent on so we could swoon over it. I honestly didn't feel anything for him, but who didn't like a guy with an accent, right?

We arrived at the mall and went straight for the food court. I had barely had any breakfast and we wanted to eat before catching an early showing of a movie.

I went for pizza while both my friends picked burgers and soon we were all sat on a table eating.

"Hey, Cole?" I called out to him after swallowing a piece of my meat lovers pizza.

He looked up, a fry still in hand, waiting for a question.

"Do you eat a lot of human food?" I asked in a lower voice.

"I like some things, but most things don't appeal to me." He replied.

I wanted to know how different we were. I knew only male hybrids had venom, so maybe that made them more vampire than human, which in turn would make them eat less food and drink more blood.

"I eat junk food a lot, like we are now, but vegetables and fruits just don't taste good at all."

"Oh," I replied. "So we are different in that as well. I don't mind human food at all, but it may be because both my mother and grandmother are really good cooks, so they can make anything taste good."

He chuckled. "How can they be good cooks if they don't eat?"

"Mom was human two decades ago, that's not long. Grandma learned to cook because of her, and Mom used to cook all the time for my grandparents.

"She told me her mother was not a good cook, and grandpa can only make eggs and bacon. She had to learn if she wanted to eat anything edible." I chuckled. "She's always teaching me something new."

"I'll have to check it out sometime." He smiled.

"Oh, Bella's cooking is the best." Sara complimented. "And Esme's too. It's always so tasty, I have no idea how they can tell how much seasoning to use or salt or anything, but it always comes out perfect."

We finished our lunch quickly to catch the comedy movie that was showing. We were all in a good mood and decided to keep it light with a comedy.

I really enjoyed myself, even though I was a bit of a third wheel. I couldn't tell why they didn't call Nick to come with us, but I didn't ask.

Sara and Cole were not a couple, so they weren't annoyingly cute or all over each other yet. It made it so much easier to be around them, and I wondered if that was going to change once they did start dating. Because it was going to happen, I was sure of it.

Just as the movie ended Sara got a call from someone and left the theater ahead of us to answer it. She was excited when we caught up to her, so it must have been good news.

She let me know she would spend the night at my house and that we should be going. I could tell she had talked to someone in my family, but had no idea why.

The sun had come out in the meantime, and I was relieved Cole had put the car in an underground parking.

When we arrived, I noticed something off.

The house was way too quiet. I know vampires rarely made noises if they so wished, but everyone in the family was so used to living like humans, there was always something going on. And they never went so long without talking to one another, no matter what.

Cole followed us in, even though he had said previously he would just drop us off. I shrugged at that, not caring if he wanted to stay or not.

I opened the door loudly; I knew they had heard us arrive minutes before we did, but everything was just so weird at the moment, I felt like having to announce myself before coming in.

"Surprise!"

People shouted from all over the living room.

I looked around with my mouth open in shock. I had forgotten it was my birthday this weekend. Since we had to change our birth dates this time around, I never thought my family would really celebrate my real one; they never celebrate theirs.

I was still in a bit of a daze when I heard my name being called repeatedly.

I looked around to see both my parents looking at me anxiously awaiting my reaction. So I ran to them and hugged them as tight as I could. They were the best parents I could have hoped for.

"Was that why you were so secretive and didn't go to the mall with us?" I asked my mother.

She looked a bit sheepish but nodded in reply.

I gave her another hug in thanks and walked around to greet everyone. There weren't many people but everyone that mattered was here, and that was all I needed.

I noticed they had invited our extended family from Alaska and couldn't help bt smile.

"Carmen." I squealed as I went to her, hugging her tight.

She laughed out loud at my enthusiasm while hugging me back.

"Look at you, mi querida," she smiled, putting both hands on my shoulders to get a better look. "No longer that bebé linda that we all fell in love with, but you have grown into una mujer muy bella."

I knew Spanish, so my face reddened as I understood her compliments. As a thank you, my lips brushed her cheek lightly before I went around greeting everyone.

I got along better with Carmen and Kate; Garrett and Eleazar were okay, but I did not like Tanya very much. I knew she had tried to be with my dad many times, and even though she never did anything after he got together with mom, I didn't like her persistence.

I sat down next to a pile of presents, and after much prodding I decided on which one to open first.

I got a messenger bag from Kate, Tanya and Garret; a very beautiful hand-made purple and white bedspread that matched my room perfectly from Carmen and Eleazar; new books from my grandparents and CD's from my uncles.

Aunt Alice gave me a new headband that I really loved, and I got a couple of flats from Aunt Rose.

Sara handed me her gift next, and I carefully opened it.

My eyes teared up a little when I saw what it was. A homemade scrapbook, already filled with a few pictures of us, but it was nowhere near complete.

"Thank you," I looked up at her. "It's absolutely beautiful." With that I got up to give her a hug.

"Love you, Sar." I whispered, really meaning the words.

"Love you, too." She replied the heartfelt sentiment as we broke apart and returned to our seats.

Dad handed me his gift next, and it blew my mind away when I saw it.

It was an almost exactly replica of the heart pendant he had given my mother, only in red. It was already secured in a bracelet, and I fell in love with it instantly.

"It's gorgeous, Daddy." I said while showing my wrist so he could clasp the bracelet around it.

"Thank you." I said, pecking his cheek.

Mom was the last, and I was looking forward to it ever since she had told me about it.

I opened it slowly and carefully.

I knew it would be jewelry by the size of the gift, but I didn't expect such thing.

It was a silver necklace that had a beautiful pendant of my nickname, May. I noticed a tiny phrase engraved behind the 'M', which said 'I love you'.

"Wow. Thanks, Mom." I just didn't have the words right now, but she understood me, kissing my forehead in return.

"Can you put it on, Daddy?" He did and I sighed in contentment.

Necklaces were Mom's way of saying she loved us. She said it was a special gift that you would always carry around near your heart and therefore should only be given to those who deserved our love.

We talked for a while, but the sound of a car approaching made everyone go silent. I knew we weren't expecting any other guests and almost everyone looked as apprehensive as me.

We could hear a heartbeat as the car parked, so we all let out a breath of relief. Mom went to answer the door as the bell rang and a few seconds later she squealed loudly.

"Dad!"

"I hope I'm not too late." I heard my grandpa Charlie reply.

"No, not at all, you're just in time." She said while hugging him.

Once they were in sight I ran to them.

"Grandpa!"

"Nessie!" He replied as enthusiastic as me while hugging me with his free arm, while his other was still holding mom.

"I missed you." I said as we guided him to the couch.

"What are you doing here?" Mom asked. "Not that I'm complaining." She added with a smile.

"Well, Edward told me about the party, and that he'd make sure I could come and surprise both my girls."

"I'm glad you came, Dad." She replied.

"Me too, Bella, me too."

He handed Mom a package, and then gave me one.

"Happy birthday, girls." He said, smiling.

Before we could open them, though, Sara interrupted.

"It's your birthday too, Bella?" She asked.

"My birthday's on the thirteenth. She was born on the eleventh." Mom said while pointing at me. "So technically speaking, we have the same birth date."

Sara nodded in understanding. Grandpa didn't know what we were, and we wanted to keep it that way. Thankfully Sara seemed to notice that.

"Grandpa," I addressed him when I saw his confused face. "This is my best friend, Sara. Sar, my grandpa Charlie."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sara. I've heard a bit about you and I'm glad Nessie found such a good friend."

Sara looked down shyly.

"Nice to meet you, too." She mumbled.

Mom and I then opened our presents and laughed. Grandpa had bought us both the same t-shirt.

"You just look so much alike, you can pass off as twins." He grinned.

He didn't know we were indeed doing just that, but I was touched nonetheless.

The party went on quite nicely. Grandpa was introduced to Cole and Arthur, who knew already not to talk about our _condition_, and everyone behaved around him.

We also never mentioned the newest _Jacob_ attack as to not freak my grandpa out.

We spent the whole day next to Grandpa. Mom and I really missed him and did not want to waste time away from him if possible.

He would spend the night and return home tomorrow, so we had time.

As it got dark, the family started to disperse until it was time for bed. Mom went with us into my room to tuck us in. She hated how Sara's mother treated my friend and always tried to be as motherly as she could.

I had to confess the first time I saw it I felt a pang of jealousy, but it soon went away.

"Good surprise?" Mom asked as she sat at the foot of my bed.

Sara and I were already under the covers.

"Yes, amazing." I replied with a smile. "And grandpa being here made it all better."

"It did, didn't it?" She asked back.

"Thank you, Mom."

She leaned forward to kiss my forehead, saying _I love you._

"Love you, too, Momma." I replied, closing my eyes for just a second to cherish the moment. It didn't matter how old I got, having my mother and father nearby would always mean everything to me.

Mom got up and went to Sara's side of the bed, kissing her forehead and smoothing her hair back.

"Good night, honey. Sweet dreams."

Sara replied with a goodnight and soon we were both asleep.

Sunday was mostly uneventful.

Grandpa Charlie had to leave in the afternoon, so we spent the morning with him. Our extended family would stay around for a while longer; we were enjoying their company as well.

We played a lot of video game, and talked.

The one thing that I felt was missing here was Nick.

I knew I felt more than just friendship for him, but I had no idea what it truly meant.

Was it just a silly crush? Or did it mean I was falling in love?

* * *

_Btw, what's written in spanish: **Bebé Linda** means **Pretty Baby** and **Una mujer muy bella** means **a very beautiful woman.** Yeah, Bella's name means Beautiful in both Spanish and Portuguese... and Italian... and yeah lol..._


	20. Chapter 19

_New chapter! Sorry it took some time, I just couldn't make up my mind…  
_

_Song for this chapter: I wanna hold your hand – The Beatles_

_This chapter goes to tomato sauce man a.k.a. Belle's boyfriend, for his theories that made me crack up =D_

_**Edit: Many changes made here.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 19

RPOV

As we arrived in school Monday morning, I noticed something different.

Nick was actually waiting for us by his car, smiling slightly as he noticed my staring.

Everyone went their separate ways once we left the car, so I made my way to Nick.

"Hey." I greeted shyly.

I was still trying to understand what was happening to me and it was somehow hindering my ability to speak coherently around him.

"Hi, Nessie." He smiled back at me. "I was wondering if I could ask you something." He asked as we made our way into the building.

"Sure." I replied.

He took a deep breath before blurting out. "Would you like to go out tonight?"

"Like on a date?" I asked.

Was it possible he felt something for me as well?

"Yeah." He nodded along for emphasis.

"I would love to." I replied, looking at him from under my lashes.

I wasn't trying to be flirty, I was actually looking down because of my sudden shyness so that was the only way I could look at him at the moment.

"Can I pick you up at five?" He inquired.

When I replied with an affirmative, he grinned at me. He looked quite pleased with himself.

The bell rang then, and I had to run so I wouldn't be late for class.

Alice had that look on her face that told me she knew what had happened. And judging by Mom's face, I could tell she was in on it as well.

I shrugged at them, a small smile still graced my face. Nothing would bring me down right now.

They both left me alone through all our classes, but as soon as we stepped foot inside the cafeteria, the questions started.

"How did he ask?"

"Where are you going?"

They both asked at the same time.

Since Alice could never see very well when it came to me, she couldn't tell what was going to happen. She had to rely on being nosy now.

"How was what?" Emmett asked once we joined them at our table.

"Nessie's got a date today." Alice squealed quite loudly.

Emmett and Rose cooed at it and made kissy faces to me.

"Stop teasing her." Mom came to the rescue. "I'm the only one allowed to do so." Or maybe not.

"She has what?" Dad's brows furrowed as he listened to everyone's thoughts. "A date?" He paled – figuratively.

"Yes, Daddy." I whispered. "And I already said yes. Plus, I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"I didn't even say anything." He defended himself. It was true, but I could tell what he was thinking.

"I can read minds." I chuckled. "I really want to go, Dad." I told him.

"Edward, don't kill her buzz. She's going, whether you like it or not." Mom was always able to get what she wanted when it came to Dad, and now that she was doing it for me, I would be forever grateful.

"Alright." He sighed in defeat. "Just please be careful." His eyes were pleading, so I readily agreed.

I could vaguely remember Alice talking to Rose about what outfit I should wear and how to do my hair, and I couldn't even find it in myself to argue with them; I was just too happy.

I tried to surreptitiously spy on Nick, but he caught me, sending a wink my way. He always sat with the same group of people, most of whom were 'jocks' and 'cheerleaders'. Nick himself was considered one since he played soccer.

He waited for me by the cafeteria doors when the bell rang, so we could walk to class together.

It took a lot of effort for me to not reach out and grab his hand, but I succeeded. I was definitely not in control at the moment, and my power could just slip through unnoticed by me. I'd rather not take chances.

He was bold enough to kiss my cheek before going to his seat, and I blushed furiously at that. I was cursing my mother over and over at the moment for passing on her ability to blush at everything.

I sat down next to a stunned Sara, whose mouth was hanging open in shock. I couldn't hold in the giggle that escaped my lips as I told her.

"I have a date tonight."

She smiled and let me know she was happy about it, but without the squealing and hugging I have seen best friends do on TV.

That was one of the things I loved about Sara. She didn't feel the need to ask about details all the time. She knew that I would tell her in my own time, so she never pried.

When the last bell rang, I all but ran to the car. Since I was the slowest – along with Sara – everyone was already there when I arrived.

I rode with Rose and Alice since they insisted on helping me get ready. I tried to turn them down, but Rose knows my weakness and I played right into it.

Alice drove like a maniac and we arrived home in less than ten minutes. Both of them dragged me to my room, ordering that I shower and wash my hair.

I was done in less than ten minutes, and sat down at my desk so they could work their magic.

Mom and Sara soon joined us, having arrived home just as I had finished my shower.

While my aunts worked on me, Mom and Sara went into my closet to select an outfit for me. They knew me and what I would feel comfortable wearing, so I didn't fret. I would have flat out refused to let Alice do it.

Once hair and make-up were done, they all left me alone to get ready.

I changed into the outfit they had chose, of which I approved, before truly fretting.

I was going on a date.

My first date.

I spent fifteen minutes inside my room trying to calm myself down. When that didn't work, I walked down the stairs knowing my whole family would be somewhere around.

I heard a loud wolf-whistle that came from uncle Emmett, which promptly made me blush.

Lowering my head, I headed towards the music room; like my father, playing the piano calmed me down and I really needed it right now.

I started playing some songs I knew by heart, closing my eyes and forgetting about everything else, just letting the music flow through me.

Some movement startled me, and I opened my eyes to see both my parents sitting on each side of me. I kept playing, silently enjoying their company.

I sighed as the song came to an end. I loved the piano.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." Dad said in a whisper, not wanting to break the serene atmosphere.

"Thanks." I whispered back.

"There are some things your mother and I would like to discuss with you before you go."

I just nodded, letting him know I was listening.

"We know you know this, but be careful about what you say. If you touch him, control your power."

"I know." I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"It's your first date, baby." Mom continued. "I know you're nervous." I snorted; that was an understatement.

"Just be as true to yourself as possible and you'll be fine. If you think things are going badly, excuse yourself and call me. I'll make up some excuse to free you, okay?"

I nodded, glad I had an option.

Dad started playing a song, stopping our conversation. I joined in a moment after, focusing solely on the music.

I could tell what he was doing and I was so grateful. A distraction was all I needed at the moment.

We played an upbeat song next, laughing out loud as we made up notes here and there to make it more joyful.

I was so thoroughly distracted that I didn't even hear the door bell until Mom nudged me lightly to let me know Nick was here.

My fingers froze on top of the keys.

"You'll be fine, sweetie. And just so you know, you look stunning." Mom gave me an encouraging smile before getting up.

I followed her suit, quickly hugging them before we made our way to the living room.

Nick was standing next to the couch, looking extremely intimidated and uncomfortable. He looked different in a dark blue button up shirt and black dress pants.

When he saw me, I noticed his stance relax instantly.

"You look great, Ness."

I smiled in thanks, not knowing what to say in reply.

"Let's go?" He nodded towards the door.

"Yeah." I replied. "Bye, everyone." I waved.

"Ness!" Dad called out as we stepped outside.

I turned around to see what he wanted.

"Esme said to be home by ten." I knew I didn't have a curfew, but I think it made it more human to have one.

"That's fine." I shrugged.

He took me to a small restaurant downtown. It wasn't fancy, but thankfully no fast food trash either.

I ordered the spaghetti, but didn't finish it off; it didn't taste so good.

We talked quite a bit, trying to get to know each other better. I answered everything as truthfully as I could, but I noticed how hard it was. I was never actually involved in the façade, so I didn't know how to work around it all. I just hoped I didn't slip up.

I learned he had two older brothers who were already in college, and a cat named Sam. His mother was an accountant and his father worked from home, something with computers.

As we were eating dessert, his hand reached out for mine that was on the table. I held my breath as he touched me.

Part of me was scared to death that a thought would escape and make its way into his brain. But most of me just let it all go and enjoyed the moment.

I had good control of my gift now – I had to learn it the hard way, since I kept showing everyone things that I hadn't meant to – but everything I was feeling now was so new and different, it took great effort to keep it at bay.

He paid our bill, and we left the restaurant hand-in-hand.

We went to the nearest movie theater, but this time we each bought our own ticket and popcorn.

The movie wasn't very good, but I got distracted by his arm around my shoulders, so I had an excuse to not pay attention.

After the movie ended and we walked back to the car, I sighed. This had been a nice night.

He got in and I followed right after him, but he didn't turn the engine on.

"Can I ask you a stupid question?" I asked after a couple of minutes in an uncomfortable silence.

He chuckled.

"Sure."

"Why were you named Nicholas?"

He laughed. I had warned him it was a stupid question.

"It's my grandpa's name." He explained.

I smiled.

"Really? I was named after my grandmother. Sort of." I stopped before saying something I shouldn't. He looked confused so I tried to explain.

"My mother was Esme's best friend since they were little. That's actually why we live with her now. Anyways, my grandma's name was Renée. My mother put both names together and came up with Renesmee. It's different, but I sort of like it." I shrugged.

"It is an unusual name." He agreed.

"Now, can I ask something stupid?" I laughed and nodded. "Was it you playing the piano when I got to your place?"

"Yeah, I was playing with Edward. He taught me how to play."

I blushed and looked down. I didn't know he had heard me play. That was something I didn't like to divulge to anyone.

He put his hand on my chin, and lifted my face so it leveled with his.

"You play very well, Nessie. What was that song?"

"It was a piece Edward wrote for Bella. I love it, and I like to play it sometimes." He nodded. Dad had written many songs for my mother and I over the years, though my favorite was still the lullaby.

He started the car and we made our way back home, talking about anything that came to mind. The silence was always uncomfortable, so I tried to fill it with as much mindless chat as I could.

He killed the engine, but turned to me instead of leaving the car.

"I had a great time today." He said.

"Me, too." I agreed.

We were silent for a while, until he leaned forward and kissed my lips unexpectedly.

I had no time to react and it was over before I could even kiss him back.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I said abruptly as I opened the door. I had no idea what had just transpired, and I needed some time to think things through.

As soon as I closed the door I was bombarded by my family. Well, half of them, as only the women wanted to know how my date had gone.

I sighed, not knowing how to respond to their enthusiasm. I didn't know how I felt about the date yet, and so couldn't possibly explain how it all went.

I made my way to my room knowing they would follow.

Once there, I stalled. First I went into my closet and picked out clean pajamas, then went into the bathroom to get rid of all the make-up I had on and get changed.

Only then did I come back into the room, sitting down in my bed and leaning against the headboard, bending my legs so I could rest my chin on my knees.

Mom sat down next to me, mirroring my position. My aunts sat by the foot of the bed and Grandma opted for the chair. Sara had gone home earlier.

"Tell us." Rosalie urged.

I sighed once more and moved my arm so I could grab onto Mom's hand. I wanted to show her everything first. Hopefully she would understand how I felt, even though I didn't know myself, and prevent the others from going too far.

"It was good." I told them after a while. "He took me to a small restaurant, but the food wasn't that great. He paid for our dinner, but I paid for my own movie ticket afterward. It wasn't all that good, but he kept his arm around me the whole time.

"It felt good, I suppose. We talked a bit more after the movie; there were a few uncomfortable silence moments, though. He kissed me before I came in." I finished it off.

"That's great, sweetie." Alice squealed, oblivious of my internal turmoil.

I smiled as sincerely as I could, and made comments every now and then, not really into the conversation. Mom noticed, and swiftly got everyone to leave. A few minutes later, I heard the whole family leave the house; they had decided on going hunting, but I knew they were giving us some privacy.

Dad didn't go, though, and soon joined us in my room.

"Tell me the truth, my angel." Mom gently pleaded.

"I don't know, Mom. It wasn't the perfect first date I had envisioned, but maybe I put too much thought into it? I don't know. He was fine, but there was no spark; he didn't even left the car to walk me to the door." I huffed.

I had dreamed of a kiss goodbye on the porch, and all I got was a peck I didn't even have time to respond to.

"Daddy? Was he truthful?" I didn't like to ask my dad about people's thoughts, but this was an emergency.

"I didn't see anything bad in his mind, sweetheart. I can tell he isn't such a gentleman, so don't get your hopes up on that matter."

"Your father is one of a kind, baby." Mom joked.

I only had my family to base on when it came to relationships. And since they were all from different times, I didn't know much. My dad was from a time where women were treated with the utmost respect, something that truly lacked nowadays.

"I know. I just wish there were more men like him. Respectful and a gentleman." I smiled at my dad.

He chuckled, but appreciated the compliment.

"Not everyone finds the love of their lives on the first try." Mom winked. "Give him a chance. Maybe he was nervous." She shrugged.

I wouldn't break things off because the date hadn't gone as I had envisioned. I just needed someone else's perspective on things.

Nick was a nice guy; also I had already said yes to Homecoming with him, so there was that.

I got under the covers, my eyes closing involuntarily. I was more tired than I had thought.

"Go to sleep, baby girl." Dad whispered. "Sleep on it and make a decision tomorrow. There's no hurry." He kissed my forehead lightly, and got up.

"Listen to your father." Mom said. "And if you need anything, you know where to find us." She also kissed my forehead, whispering that she loved me.

All I saw was Mom reach out for Dad's hand before I was out.

Nick was waiting for me by his car once again. I smiled timidly at him, not knowing how to act.

He grabbed my hand once I was near him and I relaxed slightly.

"Hi." He greeted me.

"Hey." I replied.

It was a bit awkward for a while, but soon we were back to talking and being ourselves. He had apologized for leaving the way he did the night before, and we were good.

He even ditched his annoying friends during lunch. Sara, Cole, Nick and I got a table to ourselves and it felt like we had all known one another for years instead of mere weeks.

Since we didn't have assigned seats during Calc, I traded places with Cole so I could sit next to Nick instead of in front of him.

The whole week passed by in the same fashion, and before we knew it, it was Friday. The dance would be the next day and we were all excited for it.

"So we'll pick you up at your place at around six?" Nick asked once again to confirm.

"Yes. We'll all be ready by then. Oh, and just a heads up, everyone in the family is attending, so it will be a mad house in there tomorrow." I chuckled. "There are five women getting ready for a formal party, so it's going to be hectic. Try to ignore them."

Sara would sleep over today and we would all help each other get ready. Since Sara was in on the secret, we could use vampire speed, which would speed things up quite wonderfully.

Nick laughed at my warning but nodded.

As Saturday came, I could tell it would be even more chaotic than I expected. Our house seemed so small at the moment, with five girls running around trying to get ready.

Alice was in charge of make-up, so while she did mine, Mom worked on my hair. She knew how to handle it best since it was the same as hers.

Once I was done, Alice moved on to Sara while I worked on Mom's hair. Rosalie did Sara's hair and like that we all got ready.

Soon we were all dressed, hair and make-up perfectly done. It took only about an hour and a half. It was still twice (maybe three times) the time it took the men to get ready.

It was about 6:05 when the doorbell rang. I could tell Sara was nervous, but I didn't know what to say to calm her down, since I had just frozen as well.

"You look great, Ness." Nick said as he walked towards me.

I smiled back at him, kissing his cheek lightly. We hadn't kissed again after that one peck, and I didn't know if or when we would.

"Pictures!" Grandma waltzed into the room holding a camera and grinning as big as the Cheshire cat.

I held in a groan but complied. I knew I would hate myself later on if I didn't have any tangible memories of this day.

We spent about half an hour taking pictures with everyone.

The last one was a group shot, and soon after we all got into our respective cars and drove off.

I took a deep breath as Nick started the engine.

This would be my first school dance, and it would be unforgettable.

* * *

_It's coming! I started this story because of the scene of the next chapter =D Took a while to get there, but I'm so happy that it's finally here.  
_


	21. Chapter 20

_Hello! So, here it is! LOL I wanted to post this earlier, but my laptop was not cooperating at all. Now it's here, hope you like it!_

_Is everyone enjoying the DVD yet? I can't believe I'll have to wait a month to get mine! _

_So, since this is a Dance chapter, I posted a playlist at the end of the chapter. =D_

_**Edit: My DVDs are still getting here late than I'd want them to, but now I've started buying them in the US, will have to finish the tradition. Meh.**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 20

RPOV

The party was being held at a hotel's ballroom, which was about a twenty minutes ride.

We purchased our tickets at the entrance and got in. Since we had all come with different cars, I didn't know who had arrived already. My family was known for getting a bit distracted.

Cole and Sara were waiting for us by the entrance door. Nick was a slow driver compared to the rest of us, so it was sure Cole would make it here before us.

The room was about half way full at the moment, but that was mostly because we arrived just a little bit late; the dance would last from six-thirty to eleven, so we had time to enjoy ourselves.

I did notice my family sitting at one of the tables, talking and laughing. I couldn't help but smile at their effort. They tried so hard to keep the human charade and today they went through such measures to make sure I had fun without anyone hovering over me.

I knew Alice and Mom had something to do with it, and I would be forever grateful for their help.

Nick kept hold of my hand as he half dragged me towards the refreshment table. I took my time deliberating on what I wanted, since nothing looked all that appetizing.

I ended up selecting a can of Coke and no food; I just didn't want to risk it.

Sara and Cole had secured a table for the four of us and we spent the first half hour there, just talking and having a good time. We had to carefully avoid a few topics; it was just so easy to forget Nick didn't know anything about us.

"Nessie?" Nick looked at me. "Did you and Cole know each other already before?"

"No, why do you ask?" I looked from him to Cole, trying to understand where it had all come from.

"It just feels like you've known him for a while."

"Oh, no. It's just that his father works with Carlisle sometimes and they introduced us. We just spend quite some time together because of it." I shrugged.

Arthur, Cole's father, decided to be a lawyer during their stay in Canada, so we could actually play the 'know them from work' thing as Arthur was the hospital's lawyer.

"Okay." He said after a few seconds of consideration.

I just realized I had no idea if he was the jealous type of guy. Hopefully not, as I couldn't stand people trying to control me.

"I love this song." Sara exclaimed then, breaking the small tension. I smiled gratefully at her, and she winked back.

The place was mostly full by now, and the music was blasting. The DJ was really good, playing cool song after cool song. We danced to _Mika, Kaiser Chiefs, Lily Allen, Rihanna, Pink, The Killers, _and even _Spice Girls and Michael Jackson._

We were having a great time, laughing and singing along to the songs. I loved every one that played, and kept dancing non-stop. It would be a while till I got tired, so I enjoyed my night.

After a few upbeat songs, the DJ slowed things down. Couples got together to dance, and I could see my family from the corner of my eyes. I actually enjoyed seeing my parents dance; they never took their eyes off each other and their love radiated from them.

I gasped quietly when I saw Sara and Cole share a small kiss. When had that happened?

Thankfully my distraction was brief and Nick never noticed it. As he put his arms around my waist, I wrapped mine around his neck and we slowly moved to the rhythm of the music.

That was how most of the night was spent and I was having a blast. I never knew high school dances could actually be fun; my mother never said anything good about them.

Once the slow songs changed back to more upbeat ones, Nick asked me to go outside for a while.

"I'll just grab my coat and let my sister know. I'll be right out." I told him.

It was the end of September, so the temperature was dropping during the night, which made the coat a necessary prop from now on.

I just reached for my mom's hand so I wouldn't have to say it out loud and have the whole family try to intervene.

She nodded and just told me to be careful. I pecked her cheek to let her know I would and walked towards Nick, who was waiting by the door.

He looked a bit frustrated, but I didn't ask why.

We sat down on one of the benches that were in the hotel's yard, and I waited for him to talk.

"Why are you always holding hands with your sister?" He blurted out.

Was that why he asked me to come all the way out here?

"I don't know, she's my sister. Do I need to have a reason?" I retorted, letting my annoyance show through my words.

"Whatever." He replied.

"Was that why you had me come out here? To question my love for my sister?" I didn't like where this conversation was going.

"No. I don't know why I asked that, of course you love her." He said, but I noticed a little sarcasm in his voice. "I wanted to ask something else."

"Then ask." I said a little bit harsher than I had intended.

"Nessie," he continued, either ignoring my jab or not noticing it at all. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

I gasped.

Girlfriend?

His hand made way between both of mine as I thought things through.

Was I ready for a relationship? To fully commit myself to one guy?

I thought about Jacob, and all he had done to me. He made sure I would find it difficult to ever trust a man again. I didn't know if I could handle a heartbreak; I had been hurt enough.

Also, would I be able to be with Nick without letting my past get in the way? Would I learn to fully trust him? Or would history repeat itself, and I would fall in love with a human?

I was so lost in thoughts that I jumped high when I felt Nick hastily pull his hand away from mine.

I looked up, shocked to see pure horror in his face.

"Nicky, what's wrong?" I asked.

"What did you do to me?" He retorted, now looking disgusted.

"What did I... I didn't do anything." I told him, completely confused by his mood swings.

"What are you?" He kept firing his questions. "If you're wondering if you could love a human, that means you're not one. What did you do to me?" He repeated, this time getting up and walking as far away from me as possible.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I reached out to him, but he recoiled.

"Stay the hell away from me, you freak."

I was frozen in shock as he ran away. What had just happened?

It was only after a minute that I realized I had been holding his hand the whole time. And I was caught so off guard with his question, I didn't control myself, letting him into my mind.

I had _showed_ him everything I was thinking, including the part about Jacob and my not being human.

Tears were now freely running down my face. What had I done?

It took all my strength not to collapse right then and there, but I had enough mind to go back inside and get my mom. Right now I was back to being an insecure little girl who needed her mother.

I barely registered my father's reaction, but I could tell he was not pleased. I just hoped he would forgive me.

"Nessie, slow down." She pleaded as I half dragged her towards the exit. The hotel was located on the outskirt of the city, so in a matter of minutes I was running through the small forest that surrounded our house.

"What's wrong, baby?" She kept up with me easily, and I could tell how worried she really was.

"Nessie, you're scaring me." She said, but I didn't slow down. I was near my destination now.

"May, angel, please." Her pleading voice made me stop.

I slid down a tree trunk, not caring about getting dirty at the moment, crying my eyes out.

Less than I second later, I was safely wrapped in my mother's embrace.

"May," I hear Mom whisper. "Please, please, Renesmee, tell me what's wrong. Please, I can't stand to see you like this. Please?"

Through my tears I could see her face. I knew that, if she could cry, she'd be worse than me.

I took a deep breath to keep the tears at bay and calm me down, and than whispered.

"I screwed up, Momma."

"Why?" She asked, gently.

"I wasn't paying attention, I was holding his hand, and he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so lost in thoughts, I didn't realize I had let him into my mind. I showed him everything I was thinking, Mom, and I didn't even notice. How could I have been so stupid?"

"May, baby, you're not stupid, and I don't want to hear you say this ever again okay?" I nodded. She hated when I put myself down.

"Now, think back, what did you show him?" She asked, not accusing at all, just wanting to help me understand it all.

"I was asking myself questions in my head, so he heard them all. And about Jacob, too. I thought about not wanting to be hurt again like I had been because of him. I thought if I could really trust Nick. And also if history would repeat itself and I would fall in love with a human." I finished off.

She nodded, sensing I wasn't done.

"He called me a freak." The tears came back. "And then he ran away. Momma, please, help me. I think I like him as more than a friend. But it's all so confusing, he's so hot and cold all the time. I don't think I can handle a heartbreak."

"Shh, baby girl. We'll find a way to fix this, okay? Your father most likely knows all that happened already. We'll talk to Grandpa Carlisle and he'll find a solution, okay? Just please, please stop crying. I can't handle to see you like this."

When I hurt, she hurt. She kept saying it was inevitable and not my fault, but I couldn't help but apologize every time.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please, forgive me." I said, in a voice lower than a whisper.

"You didn't, babe, you know that. I hurt when you hurt. I can't help it." She smiled sadly at me.

"Do you think he's going to tell anyone?" I asked her, suddenly worried.

"I don't know, sweetie. You know him better than me, what do you think?"

"I don't think he will. Momma, his face; he was so scared. Because of me. No, he was scared _of_ me. He looked at me with so much horror, I don't think he has even processed everything that happened yet. He just ran." I told her.

"Okay, I don't think he'll tell anyone as well, at least not for now." She agreed. "Now let's go home and we'll see what we can do about it all, okay?" She said while tucking a piece of hair behind my eyes.

She kissed my forehead tenderly and picked me up in one movement. I hadn't noticed before, but my dress was ripped and now dirty as well.

She ran home as fast as she could, and as soon as we stepped foot inside, everyone was hovering over us, asking if I were okay.

Mom sat me down as everyone bombarded me with questions I had no answers to, and I just had enough.

"I'm not okay, okay? I'm everything but okay, now leave me alone!" I yelled, and ran to my room. I could tell Mom and Dad were following me, but I didn't mind.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just frustrated." I told him, knowing everyone would be listening. They usually try not to, but I knew today everyone would be attuned to our conversation.

"It's okay, sweetheart, we understand."

I nodded.

"Daddy, did you hear him?" He nodded. "What do I have to do? Please, I have to do something!" I begged. Mom came to my side and held me.

We had reached my room, and I didn't want to sit anywhere with my dirty clothes, so I stood by the side of the door.

"We'll see, sweetheart. You'll most like have to talk to him soon, but we'll figure everything out."

"I'm going to take a shower." I whispered in reply, not knowing how to respond. "Can you stay?" I asked them.

They nodded, so I quickly grabbed everything I would need and headed towards the bathroom.

I ripped the whole dress off me, not caring about it anymore. Soon the hot water washed away everything that had happened today, and I was a lot more relaxed as I slid under the covers.

"Where's Daddy?" I asked once I noticed only my mom was in the room.

"He thought he'd be better off helping you calm down by playing. He needed to vent as well." She shrugged.

I only then noticed she had changed from her dress into some sweats, which made me smile. She was always so simple, and extremely low maintenance.

"Why would he need to vent? I thought he was mad at me?" I asked her once I settled down.

"Why would he be mad at you?" She retorted.

"I almost blew our secret." I looked at her stunned.

"Oh. No, he's not mad at you. He is pretty pissed at Nick for calling you a freak, though."

I sighed. Of course that was what he was focusing on.

"Hey, Mom? I think I'll have to talk to him tomorrow, right? Would you go with me? I don't think I can face him alone right now."

I knew I wouldn't be able to be alone with him. It was a wonder that I could interact with him like I had done so far. And after all that happened, and seeing his face turn into disgust, I couldn't help but compare him to another someone who had hurt me.

"I'll be there." She promised, knowing exactly why I asked.

"Thank you. Momma?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything. Mistakes happen. Now sleep, babe. I'll be right here when you wake up." She comforted me, pecking my lips while telling me she loved me.

"I love you." I replied, closing my eyes.

I had nightmares and my night was restless. When I finally woke up it was nine in the morning and I felt like shit. And that made me feel extremely vulnerable.

Despite it all, I got up and got ready for the day. I didn't even try to eat anything as I knew it wouldn't go well if I did.

The whole family was in the living room waiting for me. With my head hung low I walked in there, afraid of how they would react now that we all had time to think things through.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to yell, it was inappropriate and disrespectful. I'm sorry." I told them all, honestly.

No one said anything for a while and I thought the worst. What if they were mad at me?

"We're sorry, too, Nessie." Grandpa spoke up. "No one gave you the chance to talk; we all knew you'd be overwhelmed and didn't respect that."

I just nodded, not sure how to respond.

"Mom?" I turned to her.

"I'm ready. Are you?" She asked.

I took a deep breath as I looked around the room. Everyone was showing their support in some way or another, and no one seemed mad.

I knew I had to be brave enough to face my fears and correct the mistakes I had made, so I nodded.

"Yes, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

We took the Mercedes since it had tinted windows; Mom also remembered to get an older driver's license she had, so we wouldn't have any problems.

I gave her the directions to his place. I'd never been there, but knew where he lived. The whole way there I was wishing on every star that he would be alone and I'd have the chance to explain.

I didn't even notice we had arrived until the car came to a full stop.

I looked up to his house; it looked exactly like those you'd see in movies. A large backyard, big windows and a swing bench hung up on the porch.

I took a deep breath, my hand ready to open the car door as I turned to my mother.

"You'll be somewhere I can see you, right?" I asked. She knew I wouldn't be able to be in a closed room alone with Nick right now.

"Right by your side." She confirmed with a nod.

She got out of the car, and I followed her.

I automatically grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight. She squeezed back, but didn't let go.

I knocked three times, and took a deep breath.

Please, let him be home.

Someone was walking slowly down the stairs to the front door, and I could tell it was him. We'd spent so much time together that I knew his scent pretty well by now.

He looked shocked as he opened the door, as if he could not believe I would come at all.

He didn't look better off than me, that was for sure. His eyes had the hint of a purple shadow under them and they were puffy as if he had cried himself to sleep.

Had I scared him this badly?

He had no expression I could read on his face; he stared at us and then our joined hands, which made me mad once again. I had no idea why it bothered him so much.

I didn't let go of mom's hand, though. I needed the support, and she needed to know how I was handling things.

"Nessie? Bella?" He greeted, but didn't look very comfortable addressing us.

"Nicholas." Mom replied, since it seemed I was unable to form coherent sentences at the moment. "We need to talk. May we come in?"

* * *

_I was in a really indie/alternative mood while writing the Dance. So, I decided to put the 'setlist' I chose for the party:_

_That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings_

_Mr. Brightside – The Killers_

_Relax [Take It Easy] – Mika_

_Umbrella – Rihanna_

_Hung Up – Madonna_

_Hot n Cold – Katy Perry_

_LDN – Lilly Allen_

_So What – P!nk_

_Do You Want To – Franz Ferdinand_

_Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs_

_Who Do You Think You Are? – Spice Girls_

_Thriller – Michael Jackson_

_Let It Be – The Beatles_

_Hallelujah – Rufus Wainwright_

_Live and Let Die – Wings_

_Flightless Bird, American Mouth – Iron & Wine_


	22. Chapter 21

_Hey peeps! Soooo, there you have it! Nick's reaction to Nessie's secret ;) _

_Oh, and I was looking at the dictionary today (cause I got nothing better to do lol) and found out that 'May' can also mean 'spring of live' or 'youth'. That made me love the nickname I gave Nessie even more lol_

_**Edit: Many, many changes made here. **_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 21

RPOV

"Please? May we come in? We really need to talk." I finally said after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Why would I want to talk to you, freak?" He sneered back at me.

His words hurt more than I imagined.

Sighing I squeezed Mom's hand once again, this time to stop her from saying anything she would regret later.

"There is no need for name-calling." She warned him. "We came here so she could explain herself. I can understand you being upset or scared, but I don't appreciate you calling her a freak.

"You should let her explain before you jump to the wrong conclusions." She told him. "Though it seems he already has." She whispered the last part so only I could hear.

"Fine, whatever." He replied, stepping away from the door so we could go in.

I had noticed he was alone – there were no other heartbeats inside the house – and that made me relax.

He led us through the house to his room upstairs, saying it would be better to talk there just in case anyone from his family decided to come home earlier.

Thankfully he sat on his bed, leaning against the headboard, while Mom and I sat on the floor, leaning against the wall and facing him. There was about four or five feet between us, which helped with my anxiety.

Mom put an arm around my shoulder in a protective manner and I leaned into her. I brought her free hand onto my lap and held it with both of mine; I needed something to keep me relaxed, and her touch would help.

"Done with the love fest?" Nick said sarcastically.

I sighed. I knew he was hurt, but there was no need to take it out like that.

"I'm sorry." I started. "I never wanted you to find out like that." Or never, I thought. "I was just too shocked, and didn't control myself. I didn't mean to scare you like that, and for that I'm sorry."

"Right." He snorted.

"I'm serious. I have the ability to show people my thoughts, and sometimes I can't control it."

"How can you have an ability like that? What, are you an X-man or something?" He asked, more scared than sarcastic this time.

"No." It was my turn to snort.

"What are you?" He asked pointedly.

I knew he wouldn't take it as well as Sara, and I didn't know if I should tell him exactly what we were. But he had seen so much, would we be able to protect him if needed?

"I'm not fully human." I tried to get away with half-answers.

"Yeah, I had figured as much." He was back to being sarcastic.

"We're creatures of the Underworld." Mom cut in.

It was a nice way to say it without really using the word.

"Creatures of the Underworld? Like what, vampires?" He guessed, not really believing it, but once he saw our faces his sarcasm faded into shock. "Really, vampires?"

I started crying as I saw the look of pure horror that crossed his face. He subtly tried to put more distance between us, but I noticed. I didn't call him on it, though.

Burying my face on my mom's chest, I blocked everything out. I didn't like that he was so scared of me. We were the good guys.

"It'll be okay." Mom whispered to me, wrapping her arm more tightly around me.

"Why do you go to school, then? For fun? To find your next prey?" He accused us, but Mom rebutted right away.

"No, how could you say that?" She replied quite harshly. "Don't you think you would have noticed if several students had gone missing? We don't kill humans. Ever." She emphasized.

"We like to have as normal a life as we can. That's why we go to school." She explained.

"But you're not the same as Nessie." He pointed out. Once you knew the truth it was pretty obvious I was different.

"No, I'm not. She's the only one like this."

"I'm only half." I whispered, but he heard me.

"Half? How can you be half a vampire?"

I shrugged. "My mother was human when she had me. My father is a vampire."

We hadn't mentioned names, but I could see he was figuring things out. I leaned more into my mother's embrace and she instinctively hugged me closer to her. The loud gasp we heard was enough confirmation that he had understood.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed quite loudly. "Bella is your _mother_?" He was scared, it seemed. "That's impossible. You're the same age, you cannot be mother and daughter.

"I'm eighteen." She said. "And I'll always be eighteen. And so will Nessie." We didn't go into many details. It seemed they only freaked him out more. "That's why we look like twins."

"I look too much like her, except the hair." I gave him the hint.

"The hair... Edward's hair color. Edward is your _father_?"

I nodded.

"And the thing you did to me? Was that real?"

"I didn't do anything _to_ you. I told you I can show my thoughts to people through touch. I can control it fairly well, as I said, but you shocked me that night and I lost control. I never meant for you to see what was going on in my mind."

Mom frowned as she saw what exactly I had shown him. She didn't like remembering it and seeing it over and over again didn't help matters much.

I added a sorry as I caught her wince – my thoughts had drifted to the day Jacob punched me – and she shook her head and kissed my hair, accepting my apologies.

Nick looked at us intently, checking our interaction.

"Is that why you're _always_ holding her hand?" He asked.

"Why are you so focused on that? Is there a problem with me being affectionate with her?" I didn't call her Mom out loud for fear of freaking him out even more.

"I don't know, maybe I got jealous? I noticed you're always near her, more than the rest of your family, and you're always touching, or kissing, and I felt jealous, okay?" He ranted.

"For a while, I kept wishing it was me in her place, holding your hand. But that day in the cafeteria, you just curled up on her lap, and she looked like she was comforting you. You didn't care about people talking about you being like that, and I could feel the love you two shared.

"I felt jealous that my brothers would have never done anything remotely similar to that. I know we're guys and all, but some sort of support would be nice. We fight all the time; my friends from school don't truly care about me.

"And then you two come along with some crazy bond that goes beyond my understanding. And whenever you're holding hands I'm reminded that I'll never have that." He finished off.

Guess I didn't know him so well.

"No one can explain our relationship. She saved my life; you have no idea all I've been through and she was always there to help me. I'm sorry you never had that." I felt sad for him.

"But I'm not over what happened. It's a lot to take in, and I need time." He said

"That's all I'm asking." I replied. "I do have a request. Don't tell anyone, and I do mean anyone, about what happened or about our secret. No one can know." I emphasized my point with hand gestures. "It's forbidden for humans to know, so you have to keep it to yourself."

He nodded.

"Is it okay if I ask a few questions before you leave?"

I told him it was fine, but that I held the right not to answer if I deemed it unnecessary.

"Are you going to attack me?" He was still inching away from us.

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I replied that it was just not possible for us to do that.

"Should I know something about you?"

I shrugged. Guess he could know a few things.

So I explained quickly about our strength and speed, plus our acute senses. I rebutted all things he listed as commonly known to vampire myths, like the sun and the coffins.

I never got into detail on gifts or anything like that.

"Is Cole like you? He seems a little too much for a human." He asked, not as scared as he was before.

"Yes." I answered truthfully. "He lives near our house with his dad."

I didn't provide any other information on them. If Cole wanted Nick to know, he would tell the stories himself.

"He's at your place a lot." He noticed.

"It's the only place he can see Sara, and since she's always there anyways, we always hang out."

"Sara knows?" I confirmed with a nod. "And she's okay with that?" He asked, not believing it.

"Yes, she is." I replied in a clipped tone.

"Okay."

That awkward silence was back, so I sighed and turned to my mother, silently asking her to leave. It was getting pretty difficult to stay in that room.

"I'm sorry I called you a freak." He apologized at last.

"Don't worry about it." I tried to act nonchalant, but inside I was relieved. "Thank you for listening. We'll see ourselves out." I let him know. "Let's go, Mom." I called her and noticed Nick cringe.

I guess it would indeed take some time for him to come to terms with it all.

"Yeah, baby." She replied, seeing his reaction. "Goodbye, Nicholas, and thank you for listening." She echoed my words as she pulled me up.

As soon as we were out of the house and into our car, I let a huge breath out. I had made it out okay, and didn't have any panic attacks. Those were pretty rare nowadays, but they'd been quite bad for a while and I didn't want a repeat of them.

Once Mom got seated, I turned around and hugged her.

"Thank you." She knew what I meant. "Thank you." She laughed at my reaction, and I relished on that sound. It had been quite a while since I last heard her laugh like that.

She pecked my lips lightly in response.

"You just have to give him time, and let him make the first move. Everything will be fine." She promised.

"Thank you for being there, Momma. I got pretty close to a panic attack one time." I admitted.

"I know." She replied. Of course she would know. "And you know I'd do anything for you. I love you."

"Love you, too."

"Now we should go home." She buckled herself in as I did the same. "Let everyone know it went as expected so they can stop worrying." She grinned and I laughed. That was so true.

Dad was waiting for us on the front porch, anxiously looking around. Once he saw the car and our relaxed stances, he visibly relaxed as well.

"It went well." Mom said once she left the car. "He took it as we had expected."

Dad sighed in relief.

"I wish I had paid more attention before... none of this would have happened." He found a way to put the blame on himself.

"There was no way you could have prevented this, Edward." Mom reasoned with him. "And don't try to find a way to make you the guilty party. You cannot protect her from everything."

He sighed again and nodded. He knew Mom was stubborn and would not back down on that.

"I'm glad it turned out okay." He addressed me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"Did you remember to tell him..."

"Not to tell anyone." Mom and I said at the same time, mocking his voice.

"Sara will be the only one I'll tell. Don't worry so much, Daddy, I think I can see a gray hair already." I teased him, pecking his cheek before going up to my room.

"Why, you little." He teased right back.

I was so relieved. He didn't hate me. He was still scared and absolutely not ready to be around me or anyone from the family, but at least he gave me the chance to explain. For now, that was enough.

My cell phone rang just as I had turned on my computer; Sara was calling.

"Hello?" I quickly answered it.

"Nessie. Oh my gosh, are you okay? I've been trying to call you since I woke up but you wouldn't pick your damn phone up. I saw you crying and running away last night. What happened?" She demanded.

I would have laughed at her if I didn't know how scared she might have been.

"I'm okay, I promise." I reassured her. "Some things did happen, but I think I was able to fix it all already."

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "What happened?" She asked once again.

"It's quite a long story. How about you come over and we'll talk? I'll get someone to go pick you up." I offered.

"Awesome. I'll be by the corner in twenty."

We never picked her up straight from her house. She didn't want her mother knowing we had money – which showed by our car choices – because she would suddenly take an interest in us and her daughter. Sara did not want that.

Less than an hour later we were sitting on my bed, getting comfortable.

"I was so worried." She said once again.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized. And I truly was, I never meant to make her anxious or worried about me. "I kind of screwed things up with Nick.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend." Her eyes were as wide as saucers. "I know, right? But I'm not ready. And I just kept thinking about my options and how things would go and all that happened, and would I be able to trust him, y'know? Things like that.

"I never realized I had passed every single thought on to him. I had his hand in mine and didn't control myself. He panicked and ran away."

"Jerk," whispered Sara. I knew she was being a good friend and dissing him out was in the best friend's manual or something like that.

I chuckled while continuing. "So, I grabbed Mom and ran to the forest. I knew she would be the only one to calm me down at the time. She went with me this morning to his place.

"I wouldn't be able to be alone with him in a closed room, not after I saw his disgusted face. It reminded me of someone else." I trailed, knowing she would understand.

"Anyways, he let me explain and asked for some time. And that was it." I shrugged.

"Gosh, Ness, I'm so sorry. I wish I could have done something, helped you somehow, but I only realized you were gone once I saw you get into the woods with your mother.

"I asked Edward what was going on, but he wouldn't tell me. He only told me not to worry and you'd talk to me tomorrow. I spent the night at Cole's." She let me know. "In his guest room." She added before my mind went straight to my gutter.

"I just didn't want to explain to my mother why I was home when I was supposed to be at your place. And I didn't want to crash here since you were so distressed. Cole was the best option."

"I didn't say anything." I defended myself, but giggled at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me you and him had hooked up?"

"It was too recent!" She exclaimed. "Like just before the dance on his car recent. There was no time to tell you. And then all that happened, and I forgot to say anything."

"Well, we have time now." I let her know I wanted the whole story.

"It was after we left here. He asked me during the ride if I'd like to go out with him, on a date. After hyperventilating for a while, I replied with a yes. He was so happy, Ness. So happy.

"So when he parked the car he leaned over to me and pecked my lips. It was so sweet, he was testing the waters for a moment, but then we _really_ got into it. We just connected, I guess." She finished with a dreamy face.

"You guys are adorable." I gushed. For now I would have to live vicariously through my best friend.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the dance – everything good that had happened – until both our stomachs growled in hunger.

Grandma had made us lasagna, which we both devoured in fifteen minutes. It was so delicious I considered going for seconds, but I was full already.

We invited the girls for a movie night. Rose and Alice had plans already, but Mom and Grandma joined us. That was mostly due to Dad and Grandpa being away hunting for the night. They needed to talk in private, so they left after I got home.

My bed was big enough to fit all four of us, if we cuddled. So Mom and I lay on one side, my head resting on her shoulder while Sara and Grandma lay on the other side.

After much debate, we had chosen a drama. Grandma put on _Finding Neverland_ and I was crying so hard by the end of it that my cries could be heard through the house.

The men had returned so Grandma left as soon as the movie was done. Sara went to shower while I stayed in bed for a while.

When Sara was done I reluctantly got up to shower as well.

I caught the rest of the conversation Mom and Sara were having as I left the bathroom fifteen minutes later.

"Just follow your heart, sweetie. We know he's a good guy, so don't be afraid. He really likes you, he'd never hurt you."

"Thanks Bella. You're an awesome mom, you know?"

I walked over behind Mom, and wrapped my arms around her waist, kissing her cheek.

"I agree."

She just smiled. If she were still human, she'd be blushing.

"Okie dokie girls. Now it's time for bed."

We both pouted playfully.

"Five more minutes?" I batted my eyelashes as I used to when I was a kid and wanted something.

Unfortunately, that look only worked with my father.

"Nope. And don't even try that, you know it doesn't work with me."

I pouted again but complied. We were all just joking anyway.

Once we lay down, she knelt by my side.

"If anything happens." She trailed out. I knew I would have nightmares tonight.

I nodded and she pecked my lips lightly.

"I love you, baby. Sleep tight."

"Love you, too." I whispered back and watched as she made her way towards Sara, kissing her forehead.

"Good night, sweetie. Love you."

"You, too, Mom." Sara whispered back.

I did notice Mom choke up as if she would start crying, but she left before I could really tell.

"I think you just made her day." I whispered to Sara.

Sara's smile let me know she couldn't be happier.


	23. Chapter 22

_Hello! New chapter up! Thanks a loooot for the reviews for the last chapter, because of them I have decided to write a sequel to this story. You guys are amazing!_

_Chapter goes to 'Wassidy' for being my 100th review =D This chapter was sort of intense to write =P _

_Song for the chap: Sodom, South Georgia by Iron & Wine_

_**Edit: The sequel will go through some changes as well. Stay tuned!**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

* * *

Chapter 22

RPOV

It'd been a week since I last talked to Nick.

It was just another Monday morning, and we had all piled up in our cars to go to school.

The rumor mill had gone up last Monday. Apparently everyone had seen me crying after talking to Nick, and they all assumed.

Nick wasn't ignoring me, but he wasn't talking to me either. It was weird, like he wanted to approach me but didn't know how. But I kept my promise and didn't reach out to him.

It was lunch time and Sara and I had just sat down on out table with Cole. We had picked out one of the farthest tables away so we could have some privacy. Prying eyes and ears were everywhere nowadays.

Cole froze mid-bite, looking behind me in shock. As I turned around to see what had brought this reaction out of him, I noticed Nick standing right behind me, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Why don't you join us?" I asked to ease his nerves.

He nodded and sat down stiffly next to me. It seemed he had something to say, but not enough courage to blurt it out.

"Just tell me what you want to say." I let him know I was listening.

He took a deep breath before breaking the gaze he had on his tray, looking my way instead.

"I'm sorry." He started. "I've had some time to think things through and I just realized how much I hurt you with my outburst." I wanted to interrupt, but he continued on.

"I was just caught by surprise. I shouldn't have called you names, nor made you feel even worse when you were in my house. But I've had a week to see how much I missed you. Just talking to you and being around you made me feel better.

"So I'm going to try to focus on you as a person, and nothing else." He finished.

Sara smiled slightly at that. She didn't like to see me down, and wanted us to work things out.

I looked back at him and smiled.

"Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me."

He leaned over and kissed my cheek lightly. We still hadn't kissed after that first one, and I was glad for it now. I had realized I was not ready to be in a relationship then.

I could hear my family's positive response to this, which made me feel better. I didn't want them hating on Nick over something I did.

"Can we talk after school?" I asked him. "There are some things I should tell you."

He nodded. "Okay."

"It's just that my family can hear us right now, and I'd rather we talk in private." I explained.

He looked around and noticed most of the people staring at him, but only Mom and Alice actually acknowledged him with a wave, proving my point.

We spent the rest of lunch talking about mundane stuff. Cole and Sara contributed a lot more to the conversation, since Nick and I were in the process of rekindling our friendship. We weren't uncomfortable around each other, just not at ease as we used to.

Nick held my hand as we walked towards class. I was extremely careful with my gift, not wanting to scare him off once again.

People openly stared at us through the rest of the day, but I didn't care.

As soon as the last bell rang, I was out of the room and heading towards the parking lot. Nick was already waiting for me by his car, since he had study hall last.

I had told mom and Sara that I would tell him everything about my past, and they were supportive, letting me know they would hold off on telling the rest of the family for as long as they could.

"Ready?" He asked. As I nodded, he unlocked the doors and we drove off.

We ended up at the same park we had gone when Jacob had caught me. I tried to ignore the feeling of helplessness, but it was still there.

We sat down on one of the benches and I sighed.

"There are some things I have to tell you. I couldn't say anything last week for a few reasons, but I think you deserve to know."

He nodded.

I didn't hold his hand this time, to afraid to get lost in thoughts once again.

"There's a reason I never outright accepted when you asked me to be your girlfriend." I started. "His name is Jacob."

He looked stunned.

"That neanderthal that took you away that day?"

I nodded.

"He hurt me. He used to be my mother's best friend, and then he became mine. But after a while, I noticed just how much he was there, you know. All the time, trying to boss me around, overruling things my parents had let me do, like going out or even just visiting my grandpa.

"I don't like people trying to control me. So I started to distance myself from him. He wasn't well, though. I think he's sick. He put it in his mind that the reason I wasn't talking to him was because my father had forbidden me to do so.

"That wasn't the case, though. He finally took the hint after a while, and left us alone. A few years later, about ten years ago, he barged into our small cottage and tried to force himself on me.

"Mom was nearby and was able to stop him before he really did anything, but it stuck. From that day on I started having nightly nightmares and panic attacks, I couldn't trust anyone except from my immediate family.

"The thing is, Jacob had vowed to give me everything from the day I was born. It's something that happens to his kind and it actually scares me. So we had to move due to his obsession. We spent most of our time traveling all over the world, and finally settled down here.

"Everyone was very careful when it came to our location. It was never said out loud when there was even the remote possibility of him listening in. That week that the guys missed school, they had gone back to my hometown; they never knew all that happened and wanted revenge for what he had done to me.

"Jacob heals too fast, though, and he was able to hear my grandpa saying we were in Vancouver. He came here almost immediately, giving no chance to protect ourselves.

"I was more prepared to fight him back this time around. But in the end he was still too strong, and I ended up with my broken wrist and swollen face.

"He left me traumatized. I can't trust people easily, and I had to ask my mother to be with me last week or else I wouldn't be able to stay in a closed room with you because of my panic attacks."

"But you're here now." He pointed out.

"Yes. I've been able to control the attacks after a while, so only a few things can trigger them now. I knew that, because of how you reacted back at the dance, I would have a hard time looking you in the eyes. It's a defense mechanism that also appeared after that day.

"The reason I decided to tell you all this is that after all that happened, I haven't really thought about guys, never thought I'd be able to even be next to someone I didn't know and touch them without shaking.

"But you changed that. I wanted to know you since the first day of school. You have helped me heal, even though you didn't know that.

"I'm not sure if I am ready to fully commit myself to someone. Because for a relationship to work, we both need to give it our all. And despite everything, I'm just not ready yet. I'm still healing."

He nodded.

"I think I understand it, Nessie. I'm sorry you had to go through such horrible things, but I promise I'll never hurt you like that. I really like you, and I'm willing to wait for you."

I was speechless. After everything, he still wanted to wait for me?

"Thank you, Nick. You know I like you, too, and I want to be your girlfriend. I just need some time to adjust. We can take things slow, right? We've only known each other for such a short time, we should learn more about the other before jumping into a relationship."

He agreed with me, and squeezed my hand in reply.

"It'll be okay. Can I ask you something now?"

Since I had finished my monologue, I let him know it was okay to ask questions now.

"You said 'his kind' when addressing Jacob. Is he like you? How could he hurt you? You said you were stronger than the average human." He pointed out.

I let out a breath through my mouth.

"No, Jacob's not like me. He's actually the exact opposite of us. He's a shape-shifter. A werewolf."

His eyes bugged out in surprise.

"Not the full moon sort of werewolf, they call themselves that because the form they shape into is that of a wolf. They're vampires' mortal enemies, which somehow influenced on my decision.

"They're supposed to be protectors and all that, protect their people from us, and so their strength and agility as wolves is astounding. That was how he was able to hurt me. Since I'm not a full vampire, my body can be hurt. I heal fast, but it's really not pleasant.

"The strange thing is that my grandpa – that's Bella's father – married a woman named Sue, and she's the mother of two of the wolves; we get along just fine. Seth, that's my step-uncle, is very open minded, and sees us as people rather than his enemy. So we can coexist quite easily if we want to.

"Jacob imprinted on me though, which is like love at first sight, only stronger. He was there when I was born, and that was when it happened. Supposedly it's something involuntary, but I just find it creepy. That's why he was always around even though we were sworn enemies.

"The person who imprints can only see the supposed 'love of their lives' for the rest of their lives. Everything else falls into second place, and they'd do anything to please their love. Can't you see how annoying that could be?" I rhetorically asked. "But Jacob was manipulative and controlling over it all, and I couldn't bear it."

"He won't ever touch you again, Ness." Nick vowed, which made me smile.

"Thank you." I told him, and he grasped the meaning. _Thank you for not freaking out on me again._

We changed the subject to something lighter, and spent the rest of the afternoon truly getting to know each other. It helped me feel comfortable around him and not scared. With my trust issues, that was a big step for me.

He drove me home after it got dark. I knew my family would be worried.

I was bombarded with questions as soon as I got inside, so I ran to my room, knowing whoever was shouting would follow.

Mom was actually sitting on my bed, so I knew she had nothing to do with the little reception I got. Wanting to stall a little, I went into my bathroom and washed my face.

As I walked back I noticed my aunts almost at the same place they were when I told them about my date.

Greeting my mother with a peck on her lips, I sat down and rested my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes.

"It went well." I answered one of their questions. Mom hugged me as she let me know she was glad it worked out. I tried to drown out the incessant babble of my aunts.

I spent the next hour explaining all I had told him and what we had agreed on. I could see they were eager for it to work out.

Alice suddenly froze and kept quiet for a minute. Right as the vision ended, she and Rose left the room, letting Mom know she didn't have to go through such extremes to talk to me alone.

I chuckled. Mom had such subtle ways to let people know what she wanted.

"Okay, they're gone, spit it out." I said. She smiled, and hugged me. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing, baby. I'm just so happy." She said, with a huge smile on her face.

She grabbed my hand and started pulling me through the window. We both jumped and she guided me through the forest, till we reached what we now called our meadow. We came here to talk whenever we need the privacy.

"I just wanted to have a moment with you." She said, once we settled down. She sat against a tree, and I sat between her legs, resting my back on her chest, and my head on her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Mom, you're with me all the time." I reminded her with a smile.

She smiled back.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. But there's always someone with us, and I wanted to be just us, without the family _and_ without you upset." I nodded, and closed my eyes.

She continued talking.

"I wanted to let you know how proud I am of you."

I opened my eyes and looked up. "What you did today was very brave and mature. I confess I was scared this would all set you back to the time right after your ordeal, and I didn't want that. I don't want to make decisions for you, but it scared me shitless to think I'd have to see you go through all that."

I knew she was serious, then. She rarely cursed at all, only when she was nervous.

"I knew you weren't ready for a relationship yet, but you had to realize it yourself. All I can really say now is to keep talking to him, let him know how you are with things, and when you're ready, you'll know." I nodded. "Hopefully it'll take a while." She mumbled, but I understood and laughed out loud.

"What? I'm just not ready to see my baby all grown up."

I groaned.

"Mom, I'm twenty. I'm already grown up." I smiled at her, letting her know I was only teasing.

She tightened her embrace.

"It doesn't matter, you'll always be my baby." She teased right back.

"You're right." I replied in a serious tone. "I don't think I'm ready to be away from you and Dad. I'm not sure I ever will. I know it's not normal, the way we live and behave, but I just don't care."

She beamed. I didn't think I _could_ handle being away from her for a long time. We were very codependent.

"Okay, I wanted to talk to you about something else too." I nodded, signaling that I was listening.

"Please, promise me you'll be careful." She said in a low voice. "I know Nick is slowly accepting us and I'm really happy because of that. But that does not mean he will be like me, you know."

I nodded, understanding where she was trying to get.

"If one day he decides to go on with his life, instead of choosing our lifestyle, you have to promise me that you'll not shut me out; that you'll accept his decisions and one day move on.

"I know how much it hurts to be left by the one you love. So promise me you'll let me know if that happens. Please, promise me. I don't want to see you get hurt ever again." She finished in a pleading voice.

I shifted a little on her embrace so I could face her. She kept a calm expression, but her eyes told me everything I needed to know.

She was scared; for me.

"I promised, Momma. I promise." I told her in a whisper.

She held me tight and kissed my forehead.

"I'm so glad you're okay. Your friends have helped you in so many ways. Your eyes are sparkling again. You're smiling more, and laughing.

"You're healing. And now I can truly see you'll be okay."

It seemed like she was reassuring herself more than me. My hypothesis was confirmed when I heard her quiet sobs.

I wrapped my arms around her neck, and she tightened her embrace even more.

"Shh, Mom, I promise you I'll be fine." I said while tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear. "I'll be careful and won't shut you out.

"Mom, you're the reason I'm here today, not only because you gave birth to me but because you held me together. I would be a mess if it weren't for you." I told her, meaning it with all my heart.

"I'll never leave you. I love you, Momma." I whispered, touching the necklace she had given me on my birthday.

She put her hand on top of mine, playing with the pendant.

"Do you know why I started calling you May?" She asked.

I shook my head. I didn't know.

"Because it is a part of my name?" I smiled as I heard her laugh.

"Yes, that's one reason. The other was that I didn't really like your other nickname all that much at the time. But the main one is because May means spring of life. And that's you; forever young." She explained.

"That's nice. I like it. And I like it even better because no one else dared steal that name from you." I said, smiling.

"Before I knew you were a girl, I kept calling you my nudger." She confessed. "The day I figured out I was pregnant was the first day you kicked, and I guess it just stuck. I never told anyone that."

"That's nice. I remember you calling me that sometimes, though. I liked it." I smiled.

"And they're mine. No one else is allowed to use them." She laughed.

"I don't have a nickname for you." I stated with a pout.

"You call me Momma _all_ the time." She said.

"I know that, _Momma_." I replied, teasingly. "But at school I can't call you that, you're supposed to be my sister. And sisters call each other by nicknames." I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She just laughed at my childish manners.

"Well, I already go by a nickname, you know that. Isabella is just too formal. And Emmett and Charlie call me Bells sometimes." She listed.

"Yeah, well, it has to be something that only I ever call you. Like my special name." She laughed again. I guess I did sound like a little kid.

"Okay, then. What do you want to call me?"

I put my hand under my chin, thinking. "Uhm, I don't know, Mom. I like your full name, you know. It's beautiful." I added as an afterthought.

She laughed.

"Is it?" I just nodded. "Okay, but you're not calling me by my full name. It wouldn't be a nickname then." She said, playfully.

"You're right. I think I'll call you Izzy." I told her.

She looked at me.

"Izzy?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I liked it. I'll call you that when I feel like it." I laughed. "I'm not that creative."

"Okay then, if you're sure." She shrugged.

"Oh, I am." I snuggled closer to her again.

It was a good thing that we didn't have to move around. Well, she didn't have to move at all, she didn't feel tired nor had sore muscles. I felt some pain if I stayed on the same spot for long.

But still, we were in the same position as when we got here.

"Hey, Mom?" I decided to talk to her some more, since we were in such deep conversations.

"Yeah, baby?" I smiled at her.

"I just thought I'd say thank you."

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"For always being there when I needed. For saving me. For helping me heal. For being a sister more than a mother. For everything." I finished, with watery eyes.

"Oh, honey. You know I'd do anything for you. Anything. I already did, I went against the whole family for you. Twice. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat, so to speak." She added with a smile.

I nodded.

"Mom? You know what else would make me happy?"

"What?"

"If you and Aunt Rose worked out your differences, and got along like you and Aunt Alice do." I told her, honestly.

Sometimes it pained me, the way they didn't talk to each other. Sure, they got along okay, but they didn't act like sisters. More like acquaintances living in the same house

"It would make me happy too, baby. But believe me, you are the reason we are in okay terms now. She really hated me when I was human."

I already knew that, but I still didn't get it. How could she hate my sweet, caring mother?

"May, we should head back. It's late, and we have school tomorrow."

I made to get up, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me back down, facing her. She rested her forehead on mine, and looked into my eyes. I looked back, and waited for her to talk. She just looked into my eyes for some time, and then spoke.

"No matter what happens, remember that I'll always, _always _love you."

I could feel the tears threatening to fall.

"I love you, too, Momma. Forever." I pecked her lips and stood up, bringing her up with me.

We ran back home and were greeted by my dad, who looked furious.

"I've been worried sick." He exclaimed.

I gave him a kiss and ran to my room. Mom would be the best one to handle him right now, so I let them be.

She finally convinced him we just needed some privacy, and he relented; just asking that we please let him know where we go next time.

I fell onto my bed, exhausted. The day had been emotionally tiring but I felt a huge weight leaving my shoulders.

Nick cared about me. I would live in the moment with him, and forget about the future, the one thing that scared me the most.

And I had to keep my promise to my mother.

With those thoughts in mind, I closed my eyes and sleep overcame me in a matter of seconds.

I had never had a better night.


	24. Epilogue

_Hey everyone... here it is.. the last chapter =( It was so much fun to write this story! I loved it, I'd keep writting, but I don't want to drag this till it turns into some nonsense story. I am writting a sequel, though, so stay tuned ;)_

_Song for the Chapter: It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) - R.E.M._

_This chap goes for Belle! I might have mentioned something you're obsessed with ;) I remembered you while writting the paragraph =P_

_**Edit: It's been a while since I talked to Belle, but the chapter still goes to her! =)**_

_**Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns it all.**_

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Epilogue

It's been four months.

Four months since the day Nick found out about us. Four blissful months.

Everything had worked out so far.

Nick and I were dating, but still nothing serious. We were taking it slow. I couldn't just pretend that I was ready, when I surely wasn't.

He understood, and was ready to wait. He hung out with us more than his other friends, claiming we were the ones that mattered the most.

Sara and Cole were a couple_._ They were so cute together, and every time I looked at them, I felt like cooing. Cole was a real gentleman, and Sara was happiness incarnated.

They were always together, but it didn't make us feel uncomfortable. Their friends came first for them.

Sara and I grew closer every day.

She was like the sister I never had. So much that she started to call Bella _Mom_ around the house. Mom was more than thrilled with that.

Dad was very keen of Sara too, and was teaching her to play the piano. She was a very good student.

The whole family always made her feel very welcome.

Christmas had been very eventful. Since we had met new people, we decided to go all out. Cole and his father, along with Sara, celebrated it with us.

Nick spent the day after with us, and we exchanged gifts then.

We went to Forks for New Year. Grandpa Charlie, Sue, Leah and Seth spent it with us at our old house.

Jacob was nowhere to be seen, thankfully.

Leah had changed since the last time I saw her; her attitude towards us was very different. She was over every day we were there, talking to Mom and I like we were old friends.

By the end of our stay, she was Aunt Leah to me.

It was now the middle of January. And, according to our new birth certificates, mine and Mom's birthdays.

Aunt Alice had decided to throw us a party, and didn't even ask for our opinion on it. I knew that kind of attitude ticked Mom off, but she didn't say anything this time.

For me, I was just glad to be sixteen once again so I could drive my car.

The party was tonight. I knew Alice had invited at least half the sophomore and junior years, even though I didn't know half of them.

As per Alice's order, Mom and I were in my room, waiting for enough people to arrive so we could make our grand entrance. I rolled my eyes at that.

Since we were not doing anything, I decided on giving Mom something.

I had bought a present for my Mom that had not arrived in time for Christmas, since I had it customized. Once it arrived, I decided on waiting until today to give it to her.

"Hey Mom?" I called her.

"Uhm?" She replied, not lifting her head from the book she was reading. I sat beside her on my bed, and poked her side until she finally gave up reading and looked at me annoyed. I just laughed.

"I wanted to give you something before we went down there." She looked puzzled. "I had it customized, and it took longer than I thought to arrive. I just got it a few days ago." I said, smiling.

Now that I had her full attention, I pecked her cheek and went into my closet to retrieve my package.

I sat down next to her, really hoping she would like it.

"May, you know…" I interrupted,

"Yes, I know. You don't like people spending money on you. But, I'm your daughter, it's my job to spoil you." I said, grinning.

She laughed a bit at my logic.

"Isn't it the other way around?"

I just shook my head.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.

I handed her the small gift, and waited anxiously for her to open it. She did so, very, _very_ slowly, enjoying seeing me almost take it from her hands and open it myself.

She just smiled when she saw my face, and finally opened it. She gasped, and chuckled when she realized what it was.

"Now we match." I informed her.

She smiled at me and took the necklace out of the box. It was similar to mine, the one that she gave me, but with her nickname written. Obviously. _My_ nickname for her. The silly one, 'Izzy'. And like mine, behind the big 'I' was written a tiny 'I love you.'

"Put it on, please?" I asked. She grinned and nodded, turning her back to me so I could clasp it closed for her.

She turned around and pecked my cheek.

"Thank you. It's beautiful."

I squealed and hugged her.

"No complaining?" I asked, after releasing her.

She just shook her head.

"It came from your heart." I nodded. I was about to reply, when I heard someone calling us.

"Ness? Mom?"

Sara's head appeared from behind the door.

"Hey guys." She greeted. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know, we're great. There's a party going on downstairs and we have to stay cooped up in here because Alice needs to have it her way." Mom replied, sarcastically.

Sara and I laughed out loud at that.

Mom just rolled her eyes and decided to go back to her book.

I turned to Sara, "so, did you just get here?" She nodded. "And where were you?"

"Out." Was all she replied.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Out with Cole." She replied, smiling slyly.

I groaned.

"Sar-bear, enough with the games."

"I'm not telling you."

I raised one eyebrow, puzzled.

"Why not? I thought I was your best friend in the whole world!" I said, pouting.

"Aaaww, Ness, that's so not fair." She complained.

I just smiled, sweetly at her. "Fine!" I could tell she wanted to tell me, but was just stalling.

She motioned for me to come closer, and whispered it in my ears, really low as to try and make my mom not hear. She was so engrossed on the book, I doubted she was paying any attention to us.

"Cole told me he loved me today."

I squealed and hugged her.

She laughed along with me. Now, that Mom heard.

"What happened?" She asked, worried. We just kept on hugging and ignored her. "Sara? Are you okay?" We finally let go and Sara went to Mom and hugged her too. I just kept on laughing.

"Okay, any of you care to tell me what's going on?" Mom asked again, clearly frustrated.

Sara sat on her lap and rested her head on her shoulder, while I lay down on my stomach, and supported my head with my arms, looking up at them.

"Mom…" Sara started. "Cole told me today that he loved me." She finished in a whisper. Mom gave her a hug,

"Aw, sweetie, that's great. And huge! What did you do?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"Well, first I almost had a heart attack. My heart started beating so fast, it was a match to Nessie's." She said, smiling.

"Then I kissed him, and told him 'I love you, too'." Both mom and I cooed at that.

"Then he hugged me, and lifted me up, spinning us around. We were so happy. I am still happy."

"We noticed." Mom and I said at the same time. We smiled, and Sara rolled her eyes at us. We were still smiling when Aunt Alice came barging into the room.

"Okay, everyone's… oh, sorry, did I interrupt anything?" She asked, with a knowing smile on her face.

"As if you don't know, Aunt Alice." I laughed.

She just stuck her tongue out at me.

"As I was saying, everyone's here, so you can come down. C'mon Sara, let's go. Follow us in two minutes, girls."

Sara pecked my mom's cheek and left the room behind Alice.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Why were we doing this again? Oh, right, Alice said so.

Slowly my eyes opened again and I was met with my mother's gaze. She looked as ticked off as me.

"Ready?" She asked, while grabbing my hand.

"Let's get this over with." I replied annoyed.

She laughed, and kissed my hair. "It'll be fine."

I squeezed her hand, and smiled at her.

Ever since I started sort of dating Nick, my mom's been less worried about me.

It shocked me one night, I was late for my self-appointed curfew and she was nowhere to be seen.

I thought she'd be by my side in a second, but she was playing the piano with dad instead, completely relaxed. She had just smiled at me when I got home. I'd smiled back, and gone to my room.

We made our way downstairs, hand-in-hand, while everyone clapped. I blushed, and if she could, Mom would too. At the bottom of the stairs were Dad and Nick, waiting. Alice had insisted that we had a dance together with our partners.

Rose and Jasper started playing a waltz, and the four of us made our way to the living room turned into a ballroom.

Nick didn't know how to dance very well, so I had to guide him. I tried to forget about everyone that was there, but it was impossible when you could feel so many stares.

After that silly thing, everyone gathered around us to wish us happy birthday.

Uncle Emmett was the first one, and being true to himself, decided to goof around for a while.

After giving me his present, he turned to Mom, and in one swift movement, threw her over his shoulder, carrying her around. She gave up trying to get off him. He laughed, and spun them around.

"Happy Birthday, Bellsy! Oh, and just so you know, you're the best little sister ever." He said, still laughing.

Mom laughed along with him.

"Well, I'm really flattered, _Emmy_, but can you put me down?" He did. "Thank you, brother bear." Mom said with a smile, earning a booming laugh from Emmett.

The whole family was around us now, wishing us Happy Birthday and throwing hugs and kisses all over.

Dad kissed my forehead, and pecked Mom's lips, staying by her side and wrapping his arm around her waist.

We cut the cake shortly after, and every non-human made an effort to hide it away without people noticing.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, even me.

The humans had been a bit intimidated at first. The size of the house was one thing, and also the vibe that all of us sent off that danger was near didn't help matters much. But after a while they loosened up a bit and enjoyed themselves.

As the night progressed, people started to leave and soon there was only us, Cole, Arthur, Sara and Nick.

I was sitting on the couch with Nick by my side while I looked around the room.

Dad and Grandpa were sitting on the other couch, talking with Arthur and Cole. From what I could hear, their discussion was about medicine.

Grandma and Aunt Rose were removing the decorations in human pace, just for something to do. They wouldn't get tired anyways, so they just kept going.

Sara and Aunt Alice were sitting with their legs crossed on the floor, talking and giggling like the schoolgirls they were.

I was so glad my friend got along with my family. She needed a solid family environment in her life.

Mom was also on the floor with Uncle Jasper and Uncle Emmett.

Jazz had his arm around my mother's shoulders, and she was resting her head on his. Uncle Em was in front of them, talking animatedly with wild hand gestures that made Mom and Jazz laugh out loud.

The three of them truly were siblings, in every way but blood.

I snuggled closer to Nick, resting my head on his shoulder and sighing in content.

He looked down at me, smiling.

"What are you thinking about?"

I looked up at him, and smiled right back.

"Life just couldn't get any better."

_Fim_

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_That's it guys... the end... or the beggining.. a lot more is coming! _

_Thank you for sticking with me! You guys were awesome reviewers ;) _

_The sequel will be posted sometime next week, don't give up on me! lol_


	25. Note

_**EDIT: I'm posting this chapter so you can all get an alert. **_

_**I've made changes to the story, improved dialogs and better descriptions. The main plot is still the same, but a lot has changed. **_

_**I hope you like this improved story and I would love it if you give it a try. **_

_**I'll be working on the sequel, Freedom of Choice, now and will be posting the new one soon. **_

_**'Merry Maria' will be translating this story into French soon, so check out her profile.**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**Fer xx**_

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Hey guys!

Sorry for the author's note, I really despise them, but I wanted to let you know I just put up the sequel. Since you guys have this story on alert, I thought I'd give y'all a shout out!

It's called Freedom of Choice, and I hope you guys like it! Check it out on my profile =D

Thanks!

Fernanda ;)


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